Does a mandatory telemedicine call prior to visiting a physician reduce costs or simply attract good risks?

Details

Ressource 1Download: BIB_35F8B08AB042.P001.pdf (590.57 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_35F8B08AB042
Type
Report: a report published by a school or other institution, usually numbered within a series.
Publication sub-type
Working paper: Working papers contain results presented by the author. Working papers aim to stimulate discussions between scientists with interested parties, they can also be the basis to publish articles in specialized journals
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Does a mandatory telemedicine call prior to visiting a physician reduce costs or simply attract good risks?
Author(s)
Grandchamp Chantal, Gardiol Lucien
Publisher
Institute of health economics and management
Institution details
IEMS
Address
Institute of health economics and management (IEMS) Université de Lausanne Bâtiment Extranef CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland
Issued date
2008
Number
08-01
Genre
Working paper
Language
english
Number of pages
21
Notes
Mention de responsabiblité : / Chantal Grandchamp and Lucien Gardiol SAPHIRID:64133 --- Old pages value: 21 p.
Abstract
This paper aims to estimate empirically the efficiency of a Swiss telemedicine service introduced in 2003. We used claims' data gathered by a major Swiss health insurer, over a period of six years and involving 160 000 insured adults. In Switzerland, health insurance is mandatory, but everyone has the option of choosing between a managed care plan and a fee-for-service plan. The present paper focuses on a conventional fee-for-service plan including a mandatory access to a telemedicine service; the insured are obliged to phone this medical call centre prior to visiting a physician. This type of plan generates much lower average health expenditures than a conventional insurance plan. Reasons for this may include selection, incentive effects or simply efficiency. In our sample, about 90% of the difference in health expenditure can be explained by selection and incentive effects. The remaining 10% of savings due to the efficiency of the telemedicine service amount to about SFr 150 per year per insured, of which approx. 60% is saved by the insurer and 40% by the insured. While the plan is cost-effective, the big winners are the insured who not only save monetary and non-monetary costs, but also benefit from reduced premiums. [Authors]
Keywords
Telemedicine , Insurance, Health , Health Expenditures
Create date
14/03/2008 11:12
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:23
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