Key takeaways:
Environmental benefits of telemedicine: The study found that swapping in-person doctors’ visits for virtual ones can reduce carbon emissions.
National survey analysis: The researchers analyzed data from the Milliman MedInsight Emerging Experience database to determine the frequency of telehealth visits during a nearly three-month span in 2023.
Increasing popularity of telemedicine: While telehealth visits aren’t as popular as they once were at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these findings indicate that they may reduce some of the environmental burden associated with driving to and from health care visits.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth visits grew in popularity. Now, researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are exploring how this trend benefited the environment.
Their findings showed that when people swapped in-person doctors’ appointments for virtual ones, there were noticeable environmental improvements.
"The health care sector contributes significantly to the global carbon footprint,” researcher Dr. A. Mark Fendrick said in a news release.
“Our findings suggest that the environmental impact of medical care delivery can be reduced when lower-carbon options, such as telemedicine, are substituted for other services that produce more emissions."
A look at the study
To understand the environmental impact of telemedicine visits, the researchers analyzed data from the Milliman MedInsight Emerging Experience database.
Between April 1, 2023 and June 30, 2023, they looked at data from nearly 1.5 million telemedicine visits across the country.
The researchers then estimated how many visits were substituted for in-person visits and the average carbon emissions saved for each visit based on inputs of 2021 electric vehicle (EV) production share and emissions per mile.
The data included estimates based on the database’s population, as well as projections based on the U.S. population as a whole.
What are the environmental benefits?
Overall, the researchers estimated that between 741,000 and 1.3 million telemedicine visits were substitutes for traditional, in-person doctors’ appointments.
Based on the database’s population, the researchers estimated that between four million and 7.5 million kg of carbon emissions were saved as a result of telemedicine visits.
When those figures are projected across the entire country, they amount to a savings between 21.4 million and 47.6 million kg of carbon emissions.
What is the significance of these numbers? They’re roughly the equivalent of the carbon emissions produced by 61,000 to 130,000 gas powered vehicles, or recycling 1.8 million to four million trash bags.
Though the popularity of telemedicine isn’t what it was just a few years ago, the researchers believe that increasing access to virtual health care can have important environmental benefits.
“As Congress debates whether to extend or modify pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities, our results provide important evidence for policymakers to consider, namely that telemedicine has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of US health care delivery,” researcher Dr. John N. Mafi said.