Paré Guy, Sicotte Claude, St-Jules Danielle, Gauthier Richard
HEC Montreal, 3000 Côte-Ste.-Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Telemed J E Health. 2006 Apr;12(2):114-21. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2006.12.114.
A cost-minimization analysis was performed on a telehomecare program for patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The research was quasi-experimental and included a control group. We compared the effects and costs of care provided to a group of 19 patients under a telehomecare program to a comparable group of 10 patients receiving regular home care without telemonitoring. Our results clearly indicate that there were fewer home visits by nurses and hospitalizations for patients in the experimental group. However, these patients made more telephone calls than patients in the control group, although this difference was not statistically significant. Of utmost importance, the cost-minimization analysis yielded positive results. Indeed, telemonitoring over a 6-month period generated $355 in savings per patient, or a net gain of 15% compared to traditional home care. Our study confirms the findings of previous studies that analyzed the efficacy of telemonitoring for patients with COPD. Patients were found to easily accept the idea of using the technology, and the telehomecare program demonstrated significant clinical benefits. Financial advantages of the program could have been more pronounced had it not been for the cost of technology that effectively erased a good portion of the savings.
对慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）患者的远程家庭护理项目进行了成本最小化分析。该研究为准实验性研究，包括一个对照组。我们将远程家庭护理项目下一组19名患者所接受护理的效果和成本，与另一组10名接受无远程监测的常规家庭护理的类似患者进行了比较。我们的结果清楚地表明，实验组患者的护士家访次数和住院次数较少。然而，这些患者比对照组患者拨打的电话更多，尽管这种差异没有统计学意义。最重要的是，成本最小化分析得出了积极的结果。事实上，在6个月的时间里，远程监测使每位患者节省了355美元，与传统家庭护理相比净收益为15%。我们的研究证实了先前分析COPD患者远程监测疗效的研究结果。发现患者很容易接受使用该技术的想法，并且远程家庭护理项目显示出显著的临床益处。如果不是技术成本有效抵消了很大一部分节省下来的费用，该项目的财务优势可能会更加明显。
