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[Is transmission of heart murmurs via e-mail cost saving?]

Trine S Bergmo1, Lauritz Bredrup Dahl, Toralf Hasvold

  • 1Nasjonalt senter for telemedisin, Postboks 35, 9038 Tromsø. trine.bergmo@telemed.no

Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening : Tidsskrift for Praktisk Medicin, Ny Raekke
|March 25, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Pre-recorded heart sound referrals for pediatric heart murmurs are not cost-saving in Troms. The current patient volume is too low to justify the investment in telemedicine technology.

Area of Science:

  • Medical technology assessment
  • Pediatric cardiology
  • Health economics

Context:

  • Remote consultations via telemedicine can reduce travel burdens for children and parents.
  • 41 clinics in North Norway have adopted sound recording equipment for electronic referrals.
  • General practitioners (GPs) can record heart sounds locally for specialist review.

Purpose:

  • To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using pre-recorded heart sound telemedicine referrals.
  • To determine if the investment in telemedicine equipment is a cost-saving technology for pediatric heart murmur referrals.

Summary:

  • A cost analysis compared pre-recorded telemedicine referrals with traditional patient travel to a secondary care center.
  • The study found pre-recorded heart sound referrals to be 216,000 NOK more expensive annually.
  • Break-even requires over 195 pediatric heart murmur referrals per year (1.7 per GP).

Impact:

  • The current volume of pediatric heart murmur cases in Troms is insufficient to make telemedicine a cost-saving strategy.
  • The findings suggest that widespread adoption of this technology may not be economically viable in low-volume settings.
  • Further analysis may be needed to explore optimal implementation strategies for telemedicine in specialized pediatric care.
Abstract

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