title: Empirical analysis of the reduction of medical expenditures by e-health.
abstract: This paper aims to examine reduction of medical expenditures by utilizing the system of Nishi-aizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture. The town office has been implementing it since 1994 and keeps receipts on medical expenditures of its approximately 4,000 residents paid by National Health Insurance for 5 years from 2002 to 2006. We select (1) users; and (2) non-users of the e-health system, and by comparing their medical expenditures, we examine: (i) difference in medical expenditures between two groups; and (ii) negative correlation between medical expenditures and the length of usage of the e-health system. We find that total medical expenditures of users are larger than those of non-users, whereas by restricting to lifestyle-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, cerebral infarction, strokes, and diabetes, medical expenditures of users are found to be smaller than those of non-users. The results we obtained here provide the rigorous economic foundation of the e-health system.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Applied Informatics, University of Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akematsu
authors.forename: Masatsugu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuji
mesh_terms: D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000191:economics*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000191:economics*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000191:economics*; D007564:Japan; D018803:Models, Economic