The breakeven point for implementing telehealth

Introduction There are finite resources available to spend on healthcare, with the increasing burden of disease and the increasing cost of providing healthcare it is imperative that methods for optimising health systems to improve sustainability are investigated. This study is part of a larger body of work investigating the potential for telehealth to improve the economic sustainability of the health system. The aim of this sub-analysis is to investigate the breakeven point for implementing a telehealth service; that is the point after which the initial investment is recouped and the cost savings have become tangible. Method Literature searches were conducted using broad terms for telehealth and economics to identify economic evaluation literature focusing on telehealth. Articles were included if they reported their findings from a health system perspective, demonstrated cost savings, and provided sufficient information to calculate the breakeven point. Results Less than half of the economic analysis studies examined reported cost savings for the health system as a result of telehealth. The breakeven point could be calculated for 12 articles, all of which were included in the analysis. These articles described evaluations for store-and-forward, remote monitoring and videoconference services. The breakeven points for these services ranged from near immediate (less than 1 year) to 9 years. Remote monitoring and store-and-forward services reached their breakeven points sooner than the videoconference services. Conclusion The results demonstrated that telehealth is cost saving for the health system in a proportion of services. When costs are saved, the breakeven point can be immediate (less than 1 year) or may take more time to eventuate.