Current Economic Evidence for Teledermoscopy

AbstractPurpose of ReviewStore-and-forward teledermoscopy involves capturing dermoscopic images and sending them with relevant clinical information for review by a dermatologist. Teledermoscopy increases access to timely dermatology surveillance and diagnosis, which is important given the low ratio of dermatologists to the general population in many countries. Here we summarise the current economic evidence available for teledermoscopy, focusing on three stakeholders: the health system, consumers, and practitioners.Recent FindingsCompared with in-person consultations store-and-forward teledermoscopy has been found to have good diagnostic accuracy and management plan concordance. Existing economic evidence for teledermoscopy has been conducted from divergent stakeholder perspectives using different effectiveness measures, which reduce the direct comparability of the evidence.SummaryFrom the limited evidence available, we can conclude that teledermoscopy can be cost-effective in some scenarios, such as when triage based on teledermoscopy reduces unnecessary or inappropriate referrals for specialist consultations (by up to 88%). Consumers were positive and appear willing-to-pay for teledermoscopy, while practitioners conceded that teledermoscopy was valuable but had some reluctance to use due to workload concerns and a preference for in-person consultations for full skin examinations.

Source: Current Dermatology Reports - April 6, 2020 Category: Dermatology Source Type: research