A three-year study of 4,999 veterans with complex chronic conditions from 2009 to 2012 showed a reduction in death and lower costs by using telehealth technology.
The study, published in the January 2015 issue of Telemedicine and e-Health, showed that annual costs per patient fell 4 percent compared to a 48 percent increase for the matched cohort group not using telehealth methods to teach self-monitoring techniques for the complex chronic conditions.
Additionally, the mortality rate for the telehealth group was 9.8 percent while the cohort group was 16.58 percent.
The Veterans Health Administration, which worked with the researchers on the report, has been using home telehealth methods to help reduce costs since 2000, and reports high satisfaction from patients as well as fewer and briefer hospital stays.
The researchers concluded that self-management is a better tool to manage complex chronic conditions, and telehealth methods are more cost-effective than traditional methods.