A cost analysis of a tele-oncology practice.
Costs were monitored for three different types of oncology practice: a telemedicine clinic and a fly-in outreach clinic, both held in rural areas, and a traditional clinic held in a city hospital. Total expenses were calculated over the year May 1995 to April 1996. The average cost per telemedicine visit was $812. The average cost per outreach clinic visit was $897. Flying in oncology support for this practice was therefore about 10% more costly than telemedicine. While the outreach cost may have been inappropriately high due to a slow start-up phase, it was still less expensive during this period to be seen via telemedicine. For comparison, the average cost per traditional oncology clinic visit was $149. However, this figure does not take into account the costs of access to a city-based service by rural patients.
Doolittle
G C
GC
University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, USA. gdoolitt@kumc.edu
Harmon
A
A
Williams
A
A
Allen
A
A
Boysen
C D
CD
Wittman
C
C
Mair
F
F
Carlson
E
E
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D016522:Oncology Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000191:economics; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics*