Telehealth Consultations in Rheumatology: Cost-Effectiveness and User Satisfaction

Abstract

We conducted a feasibility study to assess user satisfaction with and the cost-effectiveness of a rheumatology telehealth clinic in northern Alberta. Six telehealth clinics were organized between a rural health centre and the specialist rheumatology centre, which was about a 4 h drive away. Fifty-two new patients were seen. Their median age was 54 years (range 7-81 years). After the teleconsultation, no patient required a conventional face-to-face consultation. Overall, patients agreed that the teleconsultation met their needs and that the care they received was as good as conventional care. The physicians involved in the study thought the process practical and effective. The total costs of service delivery would be equal for teleconsultation and for traditional consultation at a workload of 247 consultations a year.

Feasibility of epilepsy follow‐up care through telemedicine: A pilot study on the patient's perspective

“…Telemedicine has been shown to improve access to care especially in rural and remote areas (Hess et al, 2006). In Alberta, telemedicine has been used for close to 10 years in specialties such as mental health, rheumatology, and ophthalmology (Tennant et al, 2000; Davis et al, 2001; Simpson et al, 2001; Hailey et al, 2002)…”

System Integration and Clinical Utilization of the Advanced Clinician Practitioner in Arthritis Care (ACPAC) Program–Trained Extended Role Practitioners in Ontario: A Two-Year, System-Level Evaluation

“…These include team care 73 and the use of expanded role practitioners 74 . The problem of access to specialist care, especially in remote areas, has also led to the investigation of the usefulness and efficacy of telemedicine in rheumatology 75,76 . With few rheumatologists in Ontario traveling outside the LHIN of their primary clinic to provide services, access to specialty care may be improved by promoting visiting specialist services or specialist outreach clinics and by telemedicine, particularly for rural areas 77 .…”

The development and validation of a Televisitation Attitude Scale (TAS).

“…However, acceptance research has been conducted in telehealth -the overall ICT health care delivery system, which includes televisitation. The literature review on telehealth acceptance showed that the implicit -connotative part of attitudes had not been studied (Aarnio et al, 2000;Bowater, 2001;Cheung et al, 1998;Cornish et al, 2003;Davis et al, 2001;H. Lamminen, Tuomi, J. Lamminen, & Uusitalo, 2000;Ho & Jarvis-Selinger, 2005;Jong & Kraishi, 2004;Kumar et al, 2006;Lavoie, 2010;Linassi & Li Pi, 2005;Miller & Levesque, 2002;Ohinmaa, Vuolio, Haukipuro, & Winblad, 2002;Persaud et al, 2005;Saqui et al, 2007).…”

“…The attitudes toward telehealth have been studied in a variety of ways. A review of telehealth literature shows that there have been several studies conducted for measuring satisfaction towards telehealth (Aarnio et al, 2000;Cheung et al, 1998;Cornish et al, 2003;Davis et al, 2001;Ho & Jarvis-Selinger, 2005;Linassi & Li Pi, 2005;Miller & Levesque, 2002;Saqui et al, 2007).…”

“…Lamminen et al, 2000). Some studies have documented the satisfaction of physicians and other new virtual healthcare ICT delivery system users towards telehealth (Aarnio et al, 2000;Bowater, 2001;Cornish et al, 2003;Davis et al, 2001;Jong & Kraishi, 2004).…”