Open AccessThe Willingness to Pay for Telemedicine Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review
Author(s) -
Valerie Chua,
Jin Hean Koh,
Gerald ChoonHuat Koh,
Shilpa Tyagi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
jmir. journal of medical internet research/journal of medical internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.446
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1439-4456
pISSN - 1438-8871
DOI - 10.2196/33372
Subject(s) - telemedicine , econlit , willingness to pay , medicine , psychological intervention , health care , psycinfo , telehealth , pandemic , medline , health economics , family medicine , environmental health , public health , nursing , disease , covid-19 , pathology , economic growth , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , economics , microeconomics
Background Telemedicine is increasingly being leveraged, as the need for remote access to health care has been driven by the rising chronic disease incidence and the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also important to understand patients’ willingness to pay (WTP) for telemedicine and the factors contributing toward it, as this knowledge may inform health policy planning processes, such as resource allocation or the development of a pricing strategy for telemedicine services. Currently, most of the published literature is focused on cost-effectiveness analysis findings, which guide health care financing from the health system’s perspective. However, there is limited exploration of the WTP from a patient’s perspective, despite it being pertinent to the sustainability of telemedicine interventions. Objective To address this gap in research, this study aims to conduct a systematic review to describe the WTP for telemedicine interventions and to identify the factors influencing WTP among patients with chronic diseases in high-income settings. Methods We systematically searched 4 databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and EconLit). A total of 2 authors were involved in the appraisal. Studies were included if they reported the WTP amounts or identified the factors associated with patients’ WTP, involved patients aged ≥18 years who were diagnosed with chronic diseases, and were from high-income settings. Results A total of 11 studies from 7 countries met this study’s inclusion criteria. The proportion of people willing to pay for telemedicine ranged from 19% to 70% across the studies, whereas the values for WTP amounts ranged from US $0.89 to US $821.25. We found a statistically significant correlation of age and distance to a preferred health facility with the WTP for telemedicine. Higher age was associated with a lower WTP, whereas longer travel distance was associated with a higher WTP. Conclusions On the basis of our findings, the following are recommendations that may enhance the WTP: exposure to the telemedicine intervention before assessing the WTP, the lowering of telemedicine costs, and the provision of patient education to raise awareness on telemedicine’s benefits and address patients’ concerns. In addition, we recommend that future research be directed at standardizing the reporting of WTP studies with the adoption of a common metric for WTP amounts, which may facilitate the generalization of findings and effect estimates.