Direct-To-Consumer Telehealth May Increase Access To Care But Does Not Decrease Spending
Direct-To-Consumer Telehealth May Increase Access To Care But Does Not Decrease Spending
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DOI：
10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1130
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发表时间：
2017-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9.7
通讯作者：
Uscher-Pines, Lori
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ashwood, J. Scott;Mehrotra, Ateev;Uscher-Pines, Lori
直接面向消费者的远程保健，即病人通过电话或视频会议与医生联系，正在迅速增长。这种类型的远程保健对健康计划和雇主的一个关键吸引力是，用较便宜的虚拟访问取代医生办公室和急诊室访问可能节省费用。然而，增加便利性可能会利用未满足的医疗保健需求，新的利用可能会增加整体医疗保健支出。我们使用了三年（2011-13年）超过30万名患者的商业索赔数据，以探索急性呼吸道疾病的利用和支出模式。我们估计，12%的直接面向消费者的远程医疗访问取代了对其他提供者的访问，88%代表了新的利用率。每名远程保健用户在急性呼吸道疾病方面的年度净支出增加了45美元。直接面向消费者的远程保健可以通过使某些患者的护理更方便来增加获得服务的机会，但它也可能增加利用率和保健支出。
The use of direct-to-consumer telehealth, in which a patient has access to a physician via telephone or videoconferencing, is growing rapidly. A key attraction of this type of telehealth for health plans and employers is the potential savings involved in replacing physician office and emergency department visits with less expensive virtual visits. However, increased convenience may tap into unmet demand for health care, and new utilization may increase overall health care spending. We used commercial claims data on over 300,000 patients from three years (2011-13) to explore patterns of utilization and spending for acute respiratory illnesses. We estimated that 12 percent of direct-to-consumer telehealth visits replaced visits to other providers, and 88 percent represented new utilization. Net annual spending on acute respiratory illness increased $45 per telehealth user. Direct-to-consumer telehealth may increase access by making care more convenient for certain patients, but it may also increase utilization and health care spending.