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Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits

BACKGROUND: There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the US. Substantial travel to clinics can impose time and monetary burdens on families. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost of in-person pediatric rheumatology visits for families and determine if telemedicine clinic...

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Autores principales: Kessler, Elizabeth A., Sherman, Ashley K., Becker, Mara L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029100/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27646340
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12969-016-0116-2
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author Kessler, Elizabeth A.
Sherman, Ashley K.
Becker, Mara L.
author_facet Kessler, Elizabeth A.
Sherman, Ashley K.
Becker, Mara L.
author_sort Kessler, Elizabeth A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the US. Substantial travel to clinics can impose time and monetary burdens on families. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost of in-person pediatric rheumatology visits for families and determine if telemedicine clinics resulted in time and cost savings. Factors associated with interest in telemedicine were also explored. METHODS: Surveys were offered to parents and guardians of patients in Pediatric Rheumatology follow-up clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, the primary site of in-person care, and at a telemedicine outreach site 160 miles away, in Joplin, Missouri. Survey questions were asked about non-medical, out-of-pocket costs associated with the appointment and interest in a telemedicine clinic. RESULTS: At the primary Kansas City clinic, the median distance traveled one-way was 40 miles [IQR = 18–80]. In the Joplin sample, the median distance traveled to the telemedicine clinic was 60 miles [IQR = 20–85] compared to 175 miles [IQR = 160–200] for the same cohort of patients when seen in Kansas City (p < 0.001). When the Joplin cohort was seen via telemedicine they missed less time from work and school (p = 0.028, p = 0.003, respectively) and a smaller percentage spent money on food compared to when they had traveled to Kansas City (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference between the Joplin cohort when they had traveled to Kansas City and the Kansas City cohort in terms of miles driven to clinic, time missed from work and school, and percentage of subjects who spent money on food. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional in-person visits can result in a financial toll on families, which can be ameliorated by the use of telemedicine. Telemedicine leveled the economic burden of clinic visits so that when the Joplin cohort was seen via telemedicine, they experienced costs similar to the Kansas City cohort.
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spelling pubmed-50291002016-09-27 Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits Kessler, Elizabeth A. Sherman, Ashley K. Becker, Mara L. Pediatr Rheumatol Online J Research Article BACKGROUND: There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the US. Substantial travel to clinics can impose time and monetary burdens on families. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost of in-person pediatric rheumatology visits for families and determine if telemedicine clinics resulted in time and cost savings. Factors associated with interest in telemedicine were also explored. METHODS: Surveys were offered to parents and guardians of patients in Pediatric Rheumatology follow-up clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, the primary site of in-person care, and at a telemedicine outreach site 160 miles away, in Joplin, Missouri. Survey questions were asked about non-medical, out-of-pocket costs associated with the appointment and interest in a telemedicine clinic. RESULTS: At the primary Kansas City clinic, the median distance traveled one-way was 40 miles [IQR = 18–80]. In the Joplin sample, the median distance traveled to the telemedicine clinic was 60 miles [IQR = 20–85] compared to 175 miles [IQR = 160–200] for the same cohort of patients when seen in Kansas City (p < 0.001). When the Joplin cohort was seen via telemedicine they missed less time from work and school (p = 0.028, p = 0.003, respectively) and a smaller percentage spent money on food compared to when they had traveled to Kansas City (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference between the Joplin cohort when they had traveled to Kansas City and the Kansas City cohort in terms of miles driven to clinic, time missed from work and school, and percentage of subjects who spent money on food. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional in-person visits can result in a financial toll on families, which can be ameliorated by the use of telemedicine. Telemedicine leveled the economic burden of clinic visits so that when the Joplin cohort was seen via telemedicine, they experienced costs similar to the Kansas City cohort. BioMed Central 2016-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5029100/ /pubmed/27646340 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12969-016-0116-2 Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kessler, Elizabeth A.
Sherman, Ashley K.
Becker, Mara L.
Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title_full Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title_fullStr Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title_full_unstemmed Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title_short Decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
title_sort decreasing patient cost and travel time through pediatric rheumatology telemedicine visits
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029100/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27646340
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12969-016-0116-2
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