ArticleBMC health services research2026
A cost analysis of speech-language pathology applications for telepractice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC health services research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCleft lip and palate are common congenital anomalies that impose significant healthcare and economic burdens. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted conventional speech-language therapy, necessitating the use of telepractice interventions. The Application for Articulation Therapy-Thai (AAT-T) was developed to address these limitations. This study aimed to estimate the economic costs and resource use associated with delivering AAT-T during the pandemic.
methodsA descriptive micro-costing analysis was conducted using retrospective data from a clinical efficacy trial of AAT-T performed between May and October 2022 at Srinagarind Hospital, Thailand. Costs were estimated from a societal perspective and included direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs, and indirect costs related to caregiver productivity loss and informal care. Costs were reported in Thai baht (THB) at 2022 prices. A generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log-link function was used to examine factors associated with variations in total costs.
resultsEighteen children with CP ± L were included in the analysis. The mean total societal cost per child was THB 28,928.36 (95% CI: 24,442.87–33,413.85). Direct non-medical costs accounted for the largest proportion of total costs (45.28%), primarily driven by transportation expenses. Direct medical costs represented 31.99% of total costs, while indirect costs related to caregiver productivity loss and informal care accounted for 22.73%. Regression analysis showed that child age was significantly associated with higher total costs, with each additional year of age associated with an approximately 10% increase in expected costs (cost ratio: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.02–1.18; p = 0.02).
conclusionTelepractice-based speech-language therapy using AAT-T appears to be a feasible service delivery approach during public health emergencies and may help address geographic and caregiver-related barriers to care for children with CP ± L in Thailand. Nevertheless, direct non-medical and indirect costs remain substantial, underscoring the importance of accounting for family and caregiver burden in health service planning. Further research is required to evaluate the clinical effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability of AAT-T in post-emergency settings before consideration of broader integration into routine speech-language therapy services.
Indexed as
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.