The Effects of Telehealth on Patients with Long-Term Conditions in Routine Healthcare Use and Lessons from Practical Application

Abstract

There is increasing uptake of telehealth for long-term conditions (LTCs). However, evidence of their effectiveness remains largely inconclusive. Similarly, success factors for implementation of telehealth into routine healthcare practice are not fully understood. The objectives of this chapter are to determine the effectiveness of telehealth; and to update existing checklist on key success factors for implementation of telehealth. Both randomized controlled trial (RCT) and observational study methods were used as case-studies. Analysis was carried out using logistic regression model and summary statistics. There was a statistically significant reduction in hospital admissions in favour of the intervention groups in the RCT, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.08 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.81); p-value = 0.03, while in the observational study, the mean hospital admission per person reduced from 2.19 (95% CI: 1.67, 2.69) to 1.20 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.52); p-value 0.0004. Key success factors identified were used to update the second version of telehealth checklist tool. Telehealth was effective in reducing hospital admission in patients with COPD, heart failure, and diabetes. Key success factors were updated to support telehealth practitioners in embedding telehealth in routine practice.