An economic cost analysis of an expanding, multi-state behavioural telehealth intervention:

IntroductionIn this paper the economic costs associated with a growing, multi-state telepsychiatry intervention serving rural American Indian/Alaska Native populations were compared to costs of travelling to provide/receive in-person treatment.MethodsTelepsychiatry costs were calculated using administrative, information-technology, equipment and technology components, and were compared to travel cost models. Both a patient travel and a psychiatrist travel model were estimated utilising ArcGIS software and unit costs gathered from literature and government sources. Cost structure and sensitivity analysis was also calculated by varying modeling parameters and assumptions.Results and DiscussionIt is estimated that per-session costs were $93.90, $183.34, and $268.23 for telemedicine, provider-travel, and patient-travel, respectively. Restricting the analysis to satellite locations with a larger number of visits reduced telemedicine per-patient encounter costs (50 or more visits: $83.52; 100 or more visits: $8...