Department of Economics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Telemed J E Health. 2011 Jul-Aug;17(6):431-4. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2010.0200. Epub 2011 Jun 1.
Providing healthcare for the elderly is one of the expectations of a telemedicine system to reduce the isolation of the aging and enhance the quality of long-term care for the elderly. Based on the experiences in Taiwan, this research aimed at investigating the influences of longevity on the demand for health services through telecommunications and conventional face-to-face methods and to note the relationship between telemedicine and conventional health services.
Multiple regression analysis was undertaken. The sample covers the period from 1995 to 2004. Our results indicate that a 1% increase in the proportion of elderly relative to the population significantly increases the quantity demanded of telehealth by 305.73 and the quantity demanded of face-to-face health services by 1.99 × 10⁷. On the relationship between longevity and telemedicine, the society begins to request telehealth when the elderly proportion is >2.06%. With current 9.5% elderly proportion, there is a potential to provide 2,274.86 telemedicine health services that are currently provided at only 954.9 and underprovided by 1.38 times. On the relationship between longevity and conventional health services, when the elderly proportion is >0.56%, the needs for face-to-face health services increase in the elderly percentage. With 9.5% elderly proportion, the estimated volume of health services via conventional medical care system is 1.54 × 10⁸. The current quantity of such services is 1.11×10⁸ and underprovided by 38%. Estimation results reveal that online and conventional health services are complementary for enhancing health status in an aging society.
为老年人提供医疗保健是远程医疗系统的期望之一，以减少老年人的隔离感并提高老年人长期护理的质量。基于台湾的经验，本研究旨在通过远程医疗和传统的面对面方法调查长寿对医疗服务需求的影响，并注意远程医疗与传统医疗服务之间的关系。
采用多元回归分析。样本涵盖了 1995 年至 2004 年的时间段。结果表明，老年人比例每增加 1%，远程健康服务的需求量将增加 305.73，面对面健康服务的需求量将增加 1.99×10⁷。关于长寿与远程医疗之间的关系，当老年人比例>2.06%时，社会开始要求远程医疗。目前 9.5%的老年人比例，有潜力提供 2274.86 项远程医疗健康服务，而目前仅提供 954.9 项，短缺 1.38 倍。关于长寿与传统医疗服务之间的关系，当老年人比例>0.56%时，面对面健康服务的需求会随着老年人比例的增加而增加。在 9.5%的老年人比例下，通过传统医疗保健系统提供的卫生服务量估计为 1.54×10⁸。目前此类服务的数量为 1.11×10⁸，短缺 38%。估计结果表明，在线和传统医疗服务相辅相成，可提高老龄化社会的健康水平。
