Pediatric ER Visits Diminished with Telemedicine
The Washington Post included an article describing a study presented at the 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting about the utilization of telemedicine as an alternative to visits to the emergency room for pediatric patients. The team noted the overall decreased costs associated with this approach. Benefits of telemedicine include more personalized and timely care.
Data collected by a team from the University of Rochester noted that 25 percent of visits to the pediatric emergency room are for non-emergent conditions. Importantly, inappropriate utilization of the ER wastes resources and is more costly than required to treat the general conditions more appropriately treated in the office setting. Treatment in the ER is associated with costs almost seven times that for a routine office visit
The research team has a telemedicine program, Health-e-Access, based in Rochester. The program provides Internet-based, interactive pediatric care for children across the area. Additional information about the program is detailed on the Rochester website. The group collected data on all the pediatric visits to the largest emergency room in that city during 2006.
The analysis indicates that 12,000 of the visits were for conditions that were easily and commonly treated through the telemedicine program. Some situations could be treated with telemedicine, whereas others clearly required emergent attention in person, such as serious injuries or wounds.
Another note from the Rochester team is that families who had access to telemedicine care were more likely to use healthcare, in general. In fact, those patients received care almost 25 percent more often than families who did not have telemedicine resources. Moreover, children with telemedicine access had 25 percent fewer visits to the emergency room.
Additional data presented by the team at the meeting notes that telemedicine can be less expensive for patients and insurance companies alike, while providing high quality healthcare. Their analysis indicates that incorporation of telemedicine in the Rochester community could annually save insurance companies more than $14 per child.
May 15, 2008 Related topics: Finance, Wireless, New Technology & Innovation, Pediatrics