New Review Published on Effect of Telehealth on Cost of Health Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A sudden increase in telehealth use occurred after the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which led to the easement and removal of barriers to telehealth usage as well as modifications to payment policies for telehealth reimbursement. The PHE provided an opportunity to assess telehealth’s impact on health care costs for payers and patients. We conducted a systematic review in 2023 to understand the impact of telehealth use on health care costs during the COVID-19 pandemic across health conditions and telehealth modalities.  An updated search – in November 2023 – followed the same search strategy and methods as the initial systematic review.

Of 820 citations identified in the new search, 6 met the inclusion criteria for review. Most of the studies used a retrospective observational design to identify the differences in costs between the telehealth group and the comparator group. Three studies were conducted within the U.S. and three were conducted internationally. As with the first search, the conditions addressed and costs measured were heterogeneous. Overall, conclusions – consistent with the first review – add to the evidence that telehealth modalities are cost-saving compared to traditional in-person care at a patient perspective and can provide clinic efficiency gains and increases in billing revenue from the health care payer perspective.

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Rural Telehealth Research Center, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, 1008 RCP, Iowa City, IA 52242, Email: rt**********@***wa.edu, www.ruraltelehealth.org

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