Economic modelling of telehealth substitution of face-to-face specialist outpatient consultations for Queensland correctional facilities.

Conclusions Under the modelled conditions, telehealth may reduce the cost of providing specialist outpatient consultations to prisoners in Queensland correctional facilities. Telehealth may improve the timeliness of services to a traditionally underserved population.What is known about the topic? Specialist medical services are located in only a few metropolitan centres across Australia, which requires some populations to travel long distances to attend appointments. Some face-to-face specialist outpatient consultations can be substituted by telehealth.What does this paper add? Prisoners from correctional facilities represent one specific population that requires complex travel arrangements for specialist medical appointments. Transportation of prisoners for specialist health appointments represents a substantial cost to the government. This paper quantifies the annual cost in Queensland for transporting prisoners, taking into account fuel and vehicle costs, staff wages, per diem rates, and accommodation. In addition, it quantifies the costs of substituting face-to-face consultations with telehealth consultations.What are the implications for practitioners? This research encourages practitioners to consider using telehealth services for prisoners, as well providing an argument for tertiary centres to include telehealth as a model of care for this population. Telehealth can result in major cost savings and state and federal governments should consider implementation especially...

Source: Australian Health Review - November 28, 2017 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Taylor M, Caffery LJ, Scuffham PA, Smith AC Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research