ArticleNPJ digital medicine2023
Telemedicine and the environment: life cycle environmental emissions from in-person and virtual clinic visits.
Article in NPJ digital medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Advancing Regional and Remote Health Care With Virtual Hospital Implementation: Rapid Review.JMIR human factors · 2025Pooled it
- Strategies and tactics to reduce the impact of healthcare on climate change: systematic review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- The sustainability and environmental impact of virtual care for inflammatory bowel disease: a population-based retrospective cohort study.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Estimated Travel-Related COHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Reducing healthcare emissions in the United States in the era of federal environmental deregulation: established and emerging mitigation opportunities and concomitant benefits.BMC global and public health · 2026Review
- Mapping the regulatory landscape for environmental sustainability of medical device practices within the European Union.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Environmental Impact of a Tooth Extraction: Life Cycle Analysis in a University Hospital Setting.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2026Article
- Telephone follow-up clinics can lead to a reduction in cost and waiting list times without impacting patient care in elective joint injection patients.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Article
- Telemedicine and reduction of travel-related environmental impact of digestive clinic care in a Canadian province.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Patients' Perspectives on Climate Change, Health, and Sustainability in Ophthalmology.Ophthalmologica. Journal international d'ophtalmologie. International journal of ophthalmology. Zeitschrift fur Augenheilkunde · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Carbon-Emissions Within Secondary Healthcare: Systematic Review and Evidence and Gap Map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2025Review
- Priority Setting in the Context of Planetary Healthcare.Applied health economics and health policy · 2025Review
- Policy-Driven Digital Health Interventions for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Systematic Review of Clinical and Environmental Outcomes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Impact of telemedicine use on outpatient-related CO2 emissions: estimate from a national cohort.The American journal of managed care · 2025Article
- Virtual arthroplasty follow-up (VARF) in total hip replacement: a safe, effective, and sustainable model for post-operative care.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2025Article
- Environmental Impact of Dermatology and Action Towards It: A Narrative Review.International journal of dermatology · 2025Review
- The Carbon Footprint of In-person Versus Virtual Orthopaedic Care.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2025Article
- Sustaining Ophthalmic Practices for the Future: A High-Value Care Approach to Environmental Responsibility.Ophthalmology and therapy · 2025Review
- Telemedicine in Nerve Surgery: An Effective Method to Determine Indications for Surgery.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Concern over climate change is growing in the healthcare space, and telemedicine has been rapidly expanding since the start of the COVID19 pandemic. Understanding the various sources of environmental emissions from clinic visits-both virtual and in-person-will help create a more sustainable healthcare system. This study uses a Life Cycle Assessment with retrospective clinical data from Stanford Health Care (SHC) in 2019-2021 to determine the environmental emissions associated with in-person and virtual clinic visits. SHC saw 13% increase in clinic visits, but due to the rise in telemedicine services, the Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHGs) from these visits decreased 36% between 2019 and 2021. Telemedicine (phone and video appointments) helped SHC avoid approximately 17,000 metric tons of GHGs in 2021. Some departments, such as psychiatry and cancer achieved greater GHG reductions, as they were able to perform more virtual visits. Telemedicine is an important component for the reduction of GHGs in healthcare systems; however, telemedicine cannot replace every clinic visit and proper triaging and tracking systems should be in place to avoid duplicative care.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.