Impact of a Telemedicine Program on the Reduction in the Emission of Atmospheric Pollutants and Journeys by Road

Abstract

This retrospective study evaluates the effect of a telemedicine program developed in the central Catalan region in lowering the environmental footprint by reducing the emission of atmospheric pollutants, thanks to a reduction in the number of hospital visits involving journeys by road. Between January 2018 and June 2019, a total of 12,322 referrals were made to telemedicine services in the primary care centers, avoiding a total of 9034 face-to-face visits. In total, the distance saved was 192,682 km, with a total travel time saving of 3779 h and a total fuel reduction of 11,754 L with an associated cost of €15,664. This represents an average reduction of 3248.3 g of carbon dioxide, 4.05 g of carbon monoxide, 4.86 g of nitric oxide and 3.2 g of sulphur dioxide. This study confirms that telemedicine reduces the environmental impact of atmospheric pollutants emitted by vehicles by reducing the number of journeys made for face-to-face visits, and thus contributing to environmental sustainability.

A Cost-Minimization Analysis of a Medical Record-based, Store and Forward and Provider-to-provider Telemedicine Compared to Usual Care in Catalonia: More Agile and Efficient, Especially for Users

“…The user also benefits from greater agility in the resolution of the case, reducing waiting time, as well as in terms of travel time to a hospital consultation (Hospitals in Manresa and Berga). Employing the methodology used by Vidal-Alaball et al 2019 [13], through a combination of the R 3.6.1 software (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria), a Google Maps API and the information from each of the user's Primary Care Team (as a proxy for the user's place of residence), together with the referral hospital, a very accurate calculation of the total number of kilometers and time of journeys saved by the intervention was obtained ( Figure 2). Therefore, the sample saved 893,820 kilometers (21.58 km per case, for the round trip) and 16,812 hours (25 minutes per case) of travel.…”

“…A cost-minimization analysis performed in the same setting for the specific case of teledermatology [12] showed social savings of approximately €11.4 per visit, which have an impact, especially on users (77% of the total amount saved) as opposed to the healthcare system (23%). This is due to the size of the reduction in the commuting time and travel costs, which is especially significant in rural settings, a thesis which has been backed up by subsequent research [13]. Nevertheless, the study evaluated a short time period (teledermatology in 2016) and did not take into account other indirect costs such as the time spent by caregivers.…”

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Physicians’ Use and Perception of Telehealth: The Case of Lebanon

“…In this scheme, the adoption of telehealth can contribute to democratizing access to healthcare, increasing awareness, improving education, and lowering the costs of healthcare. In addition, the wide adoption and use of telehealth services can alleviate other social problems, such as traffic and pollution [ 13 ]. This is highly relevant in the Lebanese context [ 14 ], where traffic and air pollution from vehicles are, and will probably remain, unresolved problems due to a lack of top-down solutions.…”

Optimization of Diabetic Macular Edema Management in the Real World: A Model of Excellence in Retina Units: The EMUREX Initiative

“…Furthermore, even when eye care providers are available, telemedicine will increase the percentage of diabetic retinopathy screening exams [29]. Additionally, telemedicine appears to contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing the number of journeys made for face-to-face visits [31]. In addition to reading centers, several commercial companies have developed automated diabetic retinopathy screening solutions, but despite that their accuracy was not very high [32].…”