ArticleThe European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care2024
Short- and intermediate-term impact of DTC telemedicine consultations on subsequent healthcare consumption.
Article in The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Use of Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Thoughts, Perspectives and Experiences of Australian Adults.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Government partnerships with corporate virtual primary care.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Cost minimization analysis of digital-first healthcare pathways in primary care.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Telemedicine Public Reimbursement Models for National and Subnational Jurisdictions: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The most common diagnoses in primary care, and changes over time, in the total population of Stockholm, Sweden.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Medical teleconsultation from the patient's perspective. A demographic segmentation.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- Virtual Visits With Own Family Physician vs Outside Family Physician and Emergency Department Use.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Development of telemedicine in the Czech Republic from patients' and other key stakeholders' perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimThe use of direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine consultations in primary healthcare has increased rapidly, in Sweden and internationally. Such consultations may be a low-cost alternative to face-to-face visits, but there is limited evidence on their effects on overall healthcare consumption. The aim of this study was to assess the short- and intermediate-term impact of DTC telemedicine consultations on subsequent primary healthcare consumption, by comparing DTC telemedicine users to matched controls in a Swedish setting.
methodsWe constructed a database with individual-level data on healthcare consumption, for all residents of Region Stockholm in 2018, by linking national and regional registries. The study population included all individuals who had ≥ 1 physician consultation (telemedicine or face-to-face) during the first half of 2018. DTC telemedicine users were matched 1:2 to controls who were non-users of DTC telemedicine but who had a traditional face-to-face consultation during the study period. The matching criteria were diagnosis and demographic and socioeconomic variables. An interrupted time series analysis was performed to compare the healthcare consumption of DTC telemedicine users to that of the control group.
resultsDTC telemedicine users increased their healthcare consumption more than controls. The effect seemed to be mostly short term (within a month), but was also present at the intermediate term (2-6 months after the initial consultation). The results were robust across age and disease groups.
conclusionThe results indicate that DTC telemedicine consultations increase the total number of physician consultations in primary healthcare. From a policy perspective, it is therefore important to further investigate for which diagnoses and treatments DTC telemedicine is suitable so that its use can be encouraged when it is most cost-efficient and limited when it is not. Given the fundamentally different models for reimbursement, there are reasons to review and possibly harmonise the incentive structures for DTC telemedicine and traditional primary healthcare.
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