Study: Telemedicine could save $4.2 billion annually

A new study suggests that rolling out telemedicine systems nationally in the U.S. to emergency departments, correctional institutions, doctor's offices and nursing homes could pay off big time, saving about $4.28 billion annually. What's more, the savings didn't even include using telemedicine for inpatient floors of hospitals, home monitoring, interpreters or medical education--just provider-to-provider communication.

The study, which was conducted by the Center for Information Technology leadership at Partners HealthCare System, examined systems based on store-and-forward technology, real-time video and a hybrid combination. It concluded that while benefits exceed costs for all three approaches, hybrid seemed to offer the biggest bang for the buck.

To find out more about this research:
- read this Health Data Management piece
- read the report (.pdf)

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