Kittiratchakool Nitichen, Saeraneesopon Thanayut, Suwanpanich Chotika, Athibodee Thanakit, Namahoot Patiphak, Kaewchompoo Tanasak, Gaewkhiew Piyada, Kumluang Suthasinee, Chuanchaiyakul Tanainan, Liu Sichen, Isaranuwatchai Wanrudee
Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand.
National Health Security Office, Bangkok, Thailand.
Telemed J E Health. 2025 Jan;31(1):18-27. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2024.0140. Epub 2024 Sep 4.
The National Health Security Office in Thailand introduced a telemedicine program called "Telehealth/Telemedicine" in December 2020, which aimed to reimburse telemedicine services for patients with stable chronic diseases under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS). The current study investigated patient characteristics and trends in telemedicine service utilization under the UCS in Thailand and examined the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks on telemedicine services. A retrospective secondary data analysis using e-claim data from December 1, 2020, to April 18, 2023, was conducted. The analytical methods included descriptive analysis and an interrupted time series analysis. During ∼29 months, 110,153 unique patients used telemedicine services, leading to a total of 259,047 visits. The average age was 54 years, and most of patients were female (57%). Hypertension was the most common diagnosis for patients receiving telemedicine services. Patients with mental health conditions often engaged in telemedicine consultation with drug delivery. During the Delta and Omicron outbreaks, telemedicine service utilization significantly increased compared with that in any nonpandemic periods within the 29-month timeframe (odds ratio [OR]: 3.85, -value <0.01; OR: 2.55, -value <0.01). The study findings highlight the initial trend of telemedicine services in Thailand from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to the beginning of the post-COVID-19 period. As telemedicine will play a critical role in the future of health care, this information can support the scale-up of telemedicine, including monitoring and evaluation plans, to help improve the efficiency of the system.
泰国国家卫生安全办公室于2020年12月推出了一项名为“远程医疗/远程诊疗”的项目，旨在根据全民覆盖计划（UCS）为患有稳定慢性病的患者报销远程医疗服务费用。本研究调查了泰国全民覆盖计划下远程医疗服务利用的患者特征和趋势，并考察了新冠疫情爆发对远程医疗服务的影响。我们使用了2020年12月1日至2023年4月18日的电子理赔数据进行回顾性二次数据分析。分析方法包括描述性分析和中断时间序列分析。在约29个月的时间里，110,153名不同患者使用了远程医疗服务，总计就诊259,047次。平均年龄为54岁，大多数患者为女性（57%）。高血压是接受远程医疗服务患者最常见的诊断。患有精神健康疾病的患者经常进行药物配送的远程医疗咨询。在德尔塔和奥密克戎疫情爆发期间，与29个月时间范围内的任何非疫情时期相比，远程医疗服务利用率显著增加（优势比[OR]：3.85，P值<0.01；OR：2.55，P值<0.01）。研究结果突出了泰国从新冠疫情开始到新冠后时期初远程医疗服务的初步趋势。由于远程医疗将在未来医疗保健中发挥关键作用，这些信息可支持扩大远程医疗规模，包括监测和评估计划，以帮助提高系统效率。
