Telemedicine
Tele-orthopedics costs less than hospital visits
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
In a Norwegian RCT, remote orthopedic video visits cost less than hospital outpatient visits with similar QALY gains.
Key findings
Telemedicine cost about €65 less per patient, QALY gains were similar (.09 vs .05, P=.29), and breakeven was 151 consultations per year societally (183 from a health-sector perspective).
Methodology
Alongside a prospective RCT in Troms County, researchers compared costs and QALYs for patients randomized to remote video orthopedic consultations (n=199) versus standard hospital outpatient visits (n=190), taking a societal perspective including travel and production loss.
Limitations
Results depend on long travel distances and nurse-hosted remote clinics; cheaper Skype setups or shorter distances change the breakeven, and quality of cheaper video was not evaluated.
How this study connects
Role on claims
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Telemedicine cost about €65 less per patient, QALY gains were similar (.09 vs .05, P=.29), and breakeven was 151 consultations per year societally (183 from a health-sector perspective).
Evidence for the claim as stated.
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