McIntosh E, Cairns J
Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, UK.
J Telemed Telecare. 1997;3(3):132-9. doi: 10.1258/1357633971931039.
This paper describes the economic issues associated with the introduction of telemedicine systems and the main challenges to their evaluation. An approach to the economic evaluation of telemedicine is described based on a cost-consequence framework. The paper links these costs and consequences more formally within a set of evaluative questions which in turn forms the basis for an economic model for evaluating telemedicine. By outlining the key questions, a number of issues relevant to the evaluation of telemedicine are identified and considered. The main challenges to the economic evaluation of telemedicine include: constantly changing technology; lack of appropriate study design to manage the frequently inadequate sample sizes; inappropriateness of the conventional techniques of economic evaluation; and the valuation of health and non-health outcomes. The present study addresses these challenges and suggests ways of advancing the techniques for the economic evaluation of telemedicine.
本文描述了与远程医疗系统引入相关的经济问题以及对其进行评估的主要挑战。基于成本-后果框架描述了一种远程医疗经济评估方法。本文在一组评估问题中将这些成本和后果更正式地联系起来，这些问题进而构成了评估远程医疗的经济模型的基础。通过概述关键问题，确定并考虑了一些与远程医疗评估相关的问题。远程医疗经济评估的主要挑战包括：技术不断变化；缺乏适当的研究设计来处理样本量经常不足的问题；传统经济评估技术不合适；以及健康和非健康结果的估值。本研究应对这些挑战，并提出推进远程医疗经济评估技术的方法。
