RT Journal Article
T1 Cost and potential savings of electronic consultation and its relationship with reduction in atmospheric pollution
A1 Rey Aldana, Daniel
A1 Reyes Santías, Francisco
A1 Mazón Ramos, Pilar
A1 Portela Romero, Manuel
A1 Cinza Sanjurjo, Sergio
A1 Álvarez Álvarez, Belén
A1 Agra Bermejo, Rosa
A1 Gude Sampedro, Francisco
A1 González Juanatey, José R.
K1 3212 Salud Publica
K1 5312.07 Sanidad
K1 1203.20 Sistemas de Control Medico
AB Background: Telemedicine has been incorporated into daily clinical practice. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the economic impact of electronic consultation as a means of referring patients between Primary Care (PC) services and the referral Cardiology Service (CS) of a tertiary hospital, in particular, the cost of reduced air pollution. Methods: The direct and indirect costs associated with all the interconsultations between PC and a CS of a tertiary hospital were analyzed under a universal single act model versus a prior e-consultation model that selected patients who would later attend the single-act consultation. The cost of pollution from private motor vehicle travel by road has been analyzed with a Cobb–Douglas cost function. Results: The total cost per patient, including the costs associated with death, represented a saving in the model with e-consultation of 25.6%. The economic value for the reduction of contamination would be EUR 12.86 per patient. Conclusions: The introduction of e-consultation in the outpatient management of patients referred from PC to a CS, helps to reduce direct and indirect costs for the patient and the Health Care System. The cost of pollution associated with the trips explains the total cost to a greater extent, except for the first face-to-face consultation.
PB Sustainability
SN 20711050
YR 2021
FD 2021-11-11
LK http://hdl.handle.net/11093/2683
UL http://hdl.handle.net/11093/2683
LA eng
NO Sustainability, 13(22): 12436 (2021)
DS Investigo
RD 14-sep-2024