Technology and managed care: patient benefits of telemedicine in a rural health care network

Matthew Berman and Andrea Fenaughty

Health Economics, 2005, vol. 14, issue 6, 559-573

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:14:y:2005:i:6:p:559-573

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