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Technology and managed care: patient benefits of telemedicine in a rural health care network
Author(s) -
Berman Matthew,
Fenaughty Andrea
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.952
Subject(s) - telemedicine , rationing , health care , business , rural area , telehealth , medicine , medical emergency , economics , economic growth , pathology
Rural health providers have looked to telemedicine as a technology to reduce costs. However, virtual access to physicians and specialists may alter patients' demand for face‐to‐face physician access. We develop a model of service demand under managed care, and apply the model to a telemedicine application in rural Alaska. Provider‐imposed delays and patient costs were highly significant predictors of patient contingent choices in a survey of ENT clinic patients. The results suggest that telemedicine increased estimated patient benefits by about $40 per visit, and reduced patients' loss from rationing of access to physicians by about 20%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.