An economic evaluation of the effectiveness of telemedicine in hematooncology.

Abstract

The article examines the effectiveness of remote monitoring and the evaluation of facts about patients with hematologic malignancies using telemedicine based on SMART technologies. The project was carried out in the Department of Haematooncology of the University Hospital Ostrava. Its objective was to test the efficacy of telemedicine in the treatment of patients with blood cancer. The cost-benefit analysis method was used to evaluate effectiveness, which also confirmed the feasibility of using this method to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing specific medical projects. The conducted analysis demonstrated the effectiveness of using telemedicine procedures in the treatment of these patients, both in terms of quantifiable and non-quantifiable impacts on the Czech Republic's health system. This was mainly due to a large shortening of the length of the hospitalisation period for patients with problems whose deterioration was discovered by remote monitoring and their treatment could begin promptly. The shortening of the hospitalization period was achieved by around 40%. As a result, the complexity of treatment has been greatly reduced, benefiting both the hospital and, most importantly, the patient. With this prevention, the patient's chances of dying are reduced, as he or she is less likely to develop severe septic diseases. The total average financial savings of the Czech Republic's entire health care system for a patient who does not become septic due to a delayed response to deteriorating health only in hospitalisation, treatment, and medications is approximately USD 2,800.