Telemedicine could significantly reduce costs for ID patients
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Findings from a study conducted at one infectious disease clinic suggest that telemedicine consultation for infectious diseases could significantly reduce patient and environmental costs, researchers said.
In addition to those benefits, the researchers found that most patients were willing to try telemedicine.
“This study started prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of an effort to understand the burden of rural patients traveling long distances to our medical center for infectious diseases appointments,” Jason P. Burnham, MD, MSCI, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, told Healio.
“We wanted to understand their costs,” Burnham said, “as well as whether they might be interested in telemedicine visits as a way to reduce those costs.”
Burnham and colleagues recruited adult patients living 25 miles or more from the Washington University infectious disease clinic to take part in a survey between June 2019 and February 2020. They used Google Maps to calculate the time and money patients could potentially save by using telemedicine, and their carbon dioxide emissions per round-trip visit. They also asked patients about their willingness to use telemedicine.
In total, 75 patients completed the study. According to Burnham and colleagues, the patients traveled a mean round-trip distance of more than 227 miles — a mean travel time of between 3.6 and 4.5 hours — with mean travel costs of $131.34. Their mean carbon dioxide emissions were 91.79 kg.
“Telemedicine might not only save money for the patient but reduce environmental harms caused by long-distance travel,” Burnham said.
He said the study demonstrated that as the distance traveled by a patient increased, so did the patient’s willingness to have future visits via telemedicine.
Among study participants, 77.3% said they would be willing to have a telemedicine visit in the future, although around 60% said they preferred that their visit the day of the survey be in-person.
“The majority of patients visiting ID clinics are open to telemedicine as a way to deliver care, which could substantially reduce costs to the patient and the environment,” Burnham said. “Reimbursement and clinic policies should take into consideration these findings as we figure out how to support and grow telemedicine in the daily practice of outpatient infectious diseases.”
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