Patients, Providers, and Policymakers Agree: Telehealth Supports Lower Cost of Care and Must be Protected

Access to Virtual Care Helps to Lower Health Care Costs and Largely Replaces In-Person Visits

The Congressional Budget Office is, according to Inside Telehealth Policy, “still weighing whether telehealth is additive or substitutive.” However, the facts make clear that telehealth is often a replacement for in-person care and offers cost-savings for patients and providers, as evidenced by multiple recent studies:

• Telehealth can act as a replacement for in-person visits, with virtual care patients having fewer visits to primary care physicians, emergency departments, and retail and urgent care facilities. Telehealth offers an efficient, less costly alternative to in-person care. (George Mason University, Telehealth Visits Replace In-Person Visits, Rather Than Supplement And Offer Cost-Savings For Insurance Providers, August 2022)

• Telehealth is effective for treating many patients with chronic conditions. According to an analysis of “20 clinical trials conducted between 2013 and 2021 that tested telemedicine’s ability to either replace or enhance the usual care a patient would receive through office visits,” telehealth “generally provided care as good as in-person care, and sometimes was even better.” (Annals of Internal Medicine, Video Teleconferencing for Disease Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment, February 2022)

• Telehealth expands access to health care without increased costs to taxpayers, with average patients utilizing telehealth seeing a 61 percent decrease in health care expenses. (Progressive Policy Institute, Telehealth Saves Money and Lives: Lessons From The COVID-19 Pandemic, November 2021)

• Patients can save as much as $19 to $121 each telehealth visit. (American Journal of Emergency Medicine, On-Demand Synchronous Audio Video Telemedicine Visits Are Cost Effective, August 2018)

• Telehealth assisted stroke treatment within one network of 137 hospitals resulted in a savings of $3.5 million — for just that one diagnosis. (National Conference of State Legislatures, Increasing Access to Health Care Through Telehealth, May 2019)

• A collaborative study conducted between March and November of 2021 and containing over 500,000 patients found that telehealth has been shown to positively impact costs by supporting decreased staffing requirements and office hours, benefits which also positively impact the issue of health care worker burnout. (JAMA Network, Comparison of Quality Performance Measures for Patients Receiving In-Person vs Telemedicine Primary Care in a Large Integrated Health System, September 2022)

• In one study conducted between 2010 and 2017, telehealth tools were found to help cut hospital emergency department costs by more than 30 percent. (Telemedicine and e-Health – Mary Ann Lieber, Inc., Publishers, Do Hospitals Providing Telehealth in Emergency Departments Have Lower Emergency Department Costs?, September 6, 2021)

Lawmakers have also spoken out, sharing stories that they have experienced, or have heard from their constituency regarding the cost-saving impact of telehealth:

U.S. Representative Gregory Murphy (R-NC): “In my surgical practice I see patients from two hours north, two hours south, and sometimes five hours east on the eastern North Carolina coast. So many of my patients who come from purely eastern North Carolina — rural eastern North Carolina can’t even afford gas to travel these distances much less across town…These individuals need to be able to access telehealth because they have to travel long distances and don’t have the resources they need to be able to access physician care.”

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI): “Telehealth is the future of health care. It saves money and improves health outcomes.”

U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX): “It’s one of those things you pick up on right away, patients are never shy about telling you that “Hey wait, this is great, do you mean I can get this solved over the telephone or computer visit and I don’t have to hire a babysitter, don’t have to miss work, I don’t have to pay your exorbitant parking in your parking garage.” I mean there is a lot of potential savings downstream of us fixing this problem permanently.”

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS): “Connecting people with medical professionals through telehealth and remote patient monitoring provides quality and timely care, helps seniors manage their health, and delivers cost savings.” 

U.S. Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA): “Telehealth has been a game changer during the Coronavirus pandemic, ensuring that patients can continue to get care while reducing the spread of the virus during routine medical visits. However, patients could face an abrupt end to the practice once the pandemic is over, even though it’s long been a proven and cost-effective way to get care.” 

The momentum for telehealth protections and their cost-saving benefits has been rapidly expanding. We call on Congress to harness this momentum and make permanent telehealth reform to protect the access that millions rely on.

ABOUT TELEHEALTH ACCESS FOR AMERICA

Telehealth Access for America (TAFA) is a public education campaign supported by leaders in health care committed to better care, expanded patient choice, and protecting access to critical telehealth services. Learn more and take action today at www.telehealthaccessforamerica.org.