Technology and managed care: patient benefits of telemedicine in a rural health care network |
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Authors: | Berman Matthew Fenaughty Andrea |
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Affiliation: | Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA. matthew.berman@uaa.alaska.edu |
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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%. |
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Keywords: | rationed markets health services managed care random utility model telemedicine |
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