Shift to telemedicine in oncology results in carbon emission savings
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Key findings:
- Patients who resided within a 60-minute drive of the cancer center and used telemedicine saved a mean 19.8 kg CO2 emissions per visit — corresponding to 91.5 passenger vehicles driven for 1 year.
- Patients who resided farther than 60 minutes from the cancer center and used telemedicine saved a mean 98.6 kg CO2 emissions — corresponding to 591 passenger vehicles driven for 1 year.
Telemedicine implementation resulted in significant savings in carbon emissions among patients with cancer through reduced driving to office visits, according to study results published in JAMA Network Open.
The findings suggest telemedicine in oncology could improve access to care and reduce financial toxic effects, as well, researchers noted.
Rationale and methods
“More than 200 leading health journals published a joint commentary on the current climate emergency, with a call for urgent action to reduce the impact of climate change on health,” Krupal B. Patel, MD, MSc, FRCS(C), assistant member in the department of head and neck-endocrine oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, told Healio. “While the health care community advocates for climate change policy, we must also look within and assess our contribution to the CO2 emissions and provide solutions wherever possible. With rapid adoption of telemedicine due to COVID-19 pandemic, we sought to assess how telemedicine can help in reducing CO2 emissions.”
Patel and colleagues at Moffitt Cancer Center assessed the carbon savings gained from 49,329 telemedicine visits among 23,228 patients between April 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. They grouped visits as patients with a driving time of 60 minutes or less one way to the cancer center (n = 21,489; median age, 62 years; 57.4% women; 74.5% white) vs. those living farther than 60 minutes (n = 27,840; median age, 67 years; 51.6% women; 80.7% white).
Carbon emission savings, in total and average per visit, due to telemedicine served as main outcomes.
Findings
Patients who resided within a 60-minute drive of the cancer center saved 424,471 kg CO2 emissions, for a mean emission savings of 19.8 kg CO2 per visit due to telemedicine. This corresponded to 91.5 passenger vehicles driven for 1 year.
Results also showed those residing farther than 60 minutes from the cancer center saved 2,744,248 kg CO2 emissions, for a mean emission savings of 98.6 kg CO2 per visit due to telemedicine. This corresponded to 591 passenger vehicles driven for 1 year.
“Overall, compared with those who lived within driving distance of 60 minutes to those who lived greater than 60 minutes of driving distance to Moffit Cancer Center had approximately sixfold more total savings in CO2 emissions and subsequent equivalent number of passenger vehicles driven for 1 year,” Patel said.
Implications
The findings indicate that increased CO2 emissions have both a direct and an indirect impact on health of the population, Patel told Healio.
“Patients with cancer are particularly prone to the direct effects of pollution/particulate matter,” he said. “Climate change also results in increased extreme weather events, which affects health care delivery and access to care. Telemedicine can help in reducing carbon emissions among patients with cancer.”
Telemedicine has changed the care delivery model and could result in significant cost-savings for patients with cancer and benefit the environment, Patel added.
“We should continue to advocate for the use of telemedicine where appropriate and need to be mindful that implementation of telemedicine is equitable and provides high-quality care,” he said. “We are now planning to evaluate patient experience in terms of access and overall satisfaction with telemedicine.”
For more information:
Krupal B. Patel, MD, MSc, FRCS(C), can be reached at krupal.patel@moffit.org.
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