Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 9, Number 6 > Pp. 311-320

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Review article

The socio-economic impact of telehealth: a systematic review

P A Jennett, L Affleck Hall, D Hailey, A Ohinmaa, C Anderson, R Thomas, B Young, D Lorenzetti and R E Scott

Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; C A Consulting, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada; University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Institute of Health Economics/Centre for Health and Policy Studies, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Health Telematics Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
We reviewed the socio-economic impact of telehealth, focusing on nine main areas: paediatrics, geriatrics, First Nations (i.e. indigenous peoples), home care, mental health, radiology, renal dialysis, rural/remote health services and rehabilitation. A systematic search led to the identification of 4646 citations or abstracts; from these, 306 sources were analysed. A central finding was that telehealth studies to date have not used socio-economic indicators consistently. However, specific telehealth applications have been shown to offer significant socio-economic benefit, to patients and families, health-care providers and the health-care system. The main benefits identified were: increased access to health services, cost-effectiveness, enhanced educational opportunities, improved health outcomes, better quality of care, better quality of life and enhanced social support. Although the review found a number of areas of socio-economic benefit, there is the continuing problem of limited generalizability.

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