ICYMI: New Penn Medicine Analysis Finds Telehealth is 23 Percent Less Costly Compared to In-Person Visits
According to New Research, Penn Medicine Saved $113 Per Patient Through Virtual Care Offerings
In case you missed it, according to a recent analysis by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in the American Journal of Managed Care, Penn Medicine employee health care visits through their employee telehealth program Penn Medicine OnDemand cost 23 percent less to conduct compared to in-person visits.
The study, which analyzed data from nearly 11,000 Penn Medicine employee visits from July 2017 to July 2019 among those who utilize the company-sponsored insurance plan, discovered that “per-visit costs for the telemedicine program, called Penn Medicine OnDemand, averaged $380 while in-person encounters in primary care offices, emergency departments, or urgent care clinics during the same timeframe cost $493 to conduct, a $113 difference per patient.”
On the findings, senior author David Asch, MD, MBA, a professor of Medicine, said, “The program made care easier, and it lowered the costs of delivering each episode of care.”
The telemedicine program resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of saving for the Penn Medicine health system and supports past studies that have found similar, cost-saving results due to telehealth. Additional studies have found that 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 from January 2020 to February 2021.
Congress must act now to permanently safeguard telehealth access and the cost-savings virtual care offers.
Read the full study HERE and learn more about how Congress can act to permanently protect telehealth access HERE.
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.