Cost of ‘ telehealth ’ reduces its viability
MONITORING patients at home using modern technology, so-called telehealth, is tipped as the next big thing in healthcare. But a new study by British researchers suggests that it may not be worth the extra expense.
The findings will fuel controversy over the economic case for telehealth, which many information technology and telecoms companies are betting on as a multibillion-dollar market opportunity.
Martin Knapp, professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, one of the leaders of the study, said the disappointing results did not mean telehealth was a waste of time, but they did suggest it needed to be better targeted.
In some cases, smarter technology might help to improve the outcome. “We have got to find ways of better adjusting the equipment to suit the circumstances of the individual patient. Just at the moment we don’t find the advantage that people had hoped for,” he said.
Knapp and colleagues tested the cost effectiveness of telehealth compared with standard care over 12 months in 965 patients with three long-term conditions: heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes.
Just more than half the patients received equipment to allow them to measure things such as blood pressure and blood glucose levels at home. They then transmitted their readings electronically to a healthcare professional.
The pay-off, however, was marginal. The researchers found that the cost per quality-adjusted life year — a standard measure of quantity and quality of life — of telehealth when added to usual care was $139 200.
That is well above the £30 000 that Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence uses as a benchmark for assessing whether medical interventions are worth using in the state-run health service.
“Telehealth does not seem to be a cost-effective addition to standard support and treatment,” the study authors concluded in their report in the British Medical Journal on Friday.
The study used data from the whole system demonstrator programme, an assessment of telehealth backed by the British government that has already triggered controversy.
British Health Minister Jeremy Hunt cited encouraging results from the programme last November when he announced plans to roll out telehealth to 100 000 people with a long-term condition in 2013 and have three million on the system by 2017.
Hunt’s plan will make Britain second only to the US as an adopter of technology to monitor patients at home and the UK Department of Health has claimed it could save up to £1.2-billion over five years. — Reuters