2023-07-12 テキサス大学オースチン校(UT Austin)
◆テレヘルスの効果は疾患の種類に依存するため、リソースの効率的な使用のためには特定の疾患に焦点を当てる必要があります。この研究は、テレヘルスの価値に基づく医療環境における利用を促進するために実用的な示唆を提供しています。
<関連情報>
- https://news.utexas.edu/2023/07/12/virtual-health-care-has-limited-benefits-study-finds/
- https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/isre.2023.1220
遠隔医療とプロセスの仮想化が医療利用に与える影響 Impact of Telehealth and Process Virtualization on Healthcare Utilization
Sezgin Ayabakan ,Indranil R. Bardhan ,Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng
Information Systems Research Published:28 Mar 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.1220
Abstract
Technological advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic have catapulted process virtualization across many industries, including healthcare, where telehealth has enabled significant digital transformation of care delivery. Although telehealth has been proposed as a potential solution to improve access to care and restrain runaway healthcare costs, it can increase spending if telehealth use leads to new types of resource utilization. Drawing on the lens of process virtualization theory, we study the impact of telehealth on healthcare utilization by examining visit-level patient data of telehealth use in facilitating e-visits with healthcare providers. On average, a telehealth visit reduces the number of future outpatient visits by 13.6% (or 0.15 visits), equal to a reduction of $239 in total cost within 30 days after the visit. Our results suggest that the benefits of telehealth use are observed primarily among diseases with high virtualization potential. Specifically, patients with mental health, skin, metabolic, and musculoskeletal diseases exhibit a significant reduction of 0.21 outpatient visits per quarter (an equivalent cost reduction of $179) when they are treated via telehealth, suggesting a substitution effect with respect to traditional clinic visits. Our research identifies the boundary conditions that determine the nuanced impact of telehealth on care utilization and shows that its effectiveness depends on the process virtualization potential of different diseases. Our findings have several practical and theoretical implications for fostering telehealth use in a value-based healthcare environment, especially for diseases with high virtualization potential where telehealth use should be promoted to bend the cost curve.
