Telemedicine could help reduce unnecessary health tests: Harvard study

As per a new study, telemedicine might reduce the likelihood of doctors and patients going through certain unnecessary tests, specifically, electrocardiograms and blood counts, which are usually done in person during or right after a doctor’s visit. 

Telemedicine, or telehealth, uses technology to provide healthcare services remotely. (Photo: Getty Images)

There’s new evidence that telemedicine can help reduce the cost of low-value tests. According to researchers from Mass General Brigham, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, low-value care consists of medical tests and procedures that provide little to no benefit to patients.

“In theory, widespread adoption of telemedicine post-pandemic may influence low-value testing, such as Pap smears and prostate cancer screenings in older adults, and imaging scans for straightforward cases of low back pain,” said lead author Ishani Ganguli at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Telemedicine, or telehealth, uses technology to provide healthcare services remotely, without going to a clinic. This involves video or phone appointments between doctors and patients.

As per the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, patients who used telemedicine had slightly more total visits (both virtual and in-person) than those in systems with less telemedicine.

They also underwent fewer unnecessary tests in 7 out of 20 categories. These included cervical cancer screening, certain heart and metabolic tests, and imaging for simple back pain.

Overall, patients in high-telemedicine systems spent less on visits per person and on two of the unnecessary tests, but their total spending on low-value tests remained similar.

The researchers analysed data from 2019-2022 of more than 2 million beneficiaries in the United States, who either adopted or didn’t adopt telemedicine during the Covid-19 pandemic. This time frame, according to the study, was ideal as it highlighted how telemedicine flourished with the start of the pandemic.

The findings suggest that virtual options could reduce barriers to care. This means that telemedicine might reduce the likelihood of doctors and patients going through certain unnecessary tests, specifically, electrocardiograms (ECGs), screening metabolic panels, preoperative complete blood cell counts, preoperative metabolic panels, total or free triiodothyronine level testing for hypothyroidism, and imaging for uncomplicated low back pain, which are usually done in person during or right after a doctor’s visit.

These tests may be skipped when the consultation happens virtually, since these tests require physical presence at a healthcare facility. Telemedicine may act as a barrier to completing them unless they are truly needed.

“These findings offer further reassurance to policymakers that extending telemedicine coverage may carry benefits like lower use and spending on a number of low-value tests,” said Ganguli.

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