Effect of Telemedicine Use on Medical Spending and Health Care Utilization: A Machine Learning Approach.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

This study analyzes the effect of telemedicine use on healthcare utilization and medical spending for patients with chronic mental illness.

Methods

Using the IBM MarketScan Research database from 2009 to 2018, this study examined the timing of users' first telemedicine use and identified similar periods for non-users by using random forest and random forest proximity matching. A difference-in-differences approach, which tests whether there are differences in the study outcomes before and after the actual/predicted first use among the treated group (users) compared with the control group (non-users), was then used to assess the impact of telemedicine. Analyses were done in 2021.

Results

Comparing users with non-users after matching suggested that telemedic

SUBMITTER: Jamal A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10546505 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature