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The financial impact of a pediatric telemedicine program: a children's hospital's perspective
Madan Dharmar1, Candace K Sadorra, Paul Leigh
1Department of Pediatrics, University of California Davis Children's Hospital, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. mdharmar@ucdavis.edu
Insights
Implementing pediatric telemedicine services increased patient transfers and revenue for a children's hospital. This telemedicine outreach enhanced market share in a competitive healthcare environment.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Telemedicine
- Pediatric Care
Background:
- Assesses the financial impact of telemedicine outreach from a tertiary children's hospital's viewpoint.
- Examines a competitive healthcare market with multiple children's hospitals.
- Compares key financial metrics before and after telemedicine implementation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the financial impact of pediatric telemedicine outreach.
- To determine changes in patient transfers and revenue streams.
- To understand market share shifts in a competitive pediatric healthcare landscape.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of hospital and physician billing records (July 2003-December 2010).
- Analysis of patient transfers from 16 hospitals with implemented telemedicine services.
- Comparison of average net hospital revenue and professional billing revenue pre- and post-telemedicine deployment.
Main Results:
- Patient transfers to the children's hospital increased from 143 to 285 annually.
- Average annual hospital revenue rose from $2.4 million to $4.0 million.
- Average annual professional billing revenue increased from $313,977 to $688,443.
- Per-hospital annual revenue increased by $101,744 (hospital) and $23,404 (professional billing).
Conclusions:
- Pediatric telemedicine services deployment increased market share for the children's hospital.
- Telemedicine led to a significant rise in patient transfers and associated revenues.
- Telemedicine is a financially beneficial strategy in competitive pediatric healthcare markets.
Introduction:
This study evaluates the financial impact of telemedicine outreach in a competitive healthcare market from a tertiary children's hospital's perspective. We compared the number of transfers, average hospital revenue, and average professional billing revenue before and after the deployment of telemedicine.
Materials And Methods:
This is a retrospective review of hospital and physician billing records for patients transferred from 16 hospitals where telemedicine services were implemented between July 2003 and December 2010. Hospital revenue was defined as total revenue minus operating costs. Professional billing revenue was defined as total payment received as the result of physician billing of patients' insurance. We compared the number of transfers, average net hospital revenue per year, and average professional billing revenue per year before and after the deployment of telemedicine at these hospitals.
Results:
There were 2,029 children transferred to the children's hospital from the 16 hospitals with telemedicine during the study period. The average number of patients transferred per year to the children's hospital increased from 143 pre-telemedicine to 285 post-telemedicine. From these patients, the average hospital revenue increased from $2.4 million to $4.0 million per year, and the average professional billing revenue increased from $313,977 to $688,443 per year. On average, per hospital, following the deployment of telemedicine, hospital revenue increased by $101,744 per year, and professional billing revenue increased by $23,404 per year.
Conclusions:
In a competitive healthcare region with more than one children's hospital, deploying pediatric telemedicine services to referring hospitals resulted in an increased market share and an increased number of transfers, hospital revenue, and professional billing revenue.
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