Cost-effectiveness of home telemedical cardiotocography compared with traditional outpatient monitoring

Abstract

We compared the cost of passive sensor telemedical non-stress cardiotocography performed at home and the same test performed by traditional equipment in an outpatient clinic in the Budapest area. The costs were calculated using two years’ registered budget data from the home monitoring service in Budapest and the outpatient clinic of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Haynal Imre University of Health Sciences. The traditional test at the university outpatient clinic cost 3652 forint for the health-care and 1000 forint in additional expenses for the patient (travel and time off work). This means that the total cost for each test in the clinic was 4652 forint. The cost of home telemedical cardiotocography was 1500 forint per test, but each test took 2.1 times as long. For a more realistic comparison between the two methods, we adjusted the cost to take account of the extra length of time that home monitoring required. The adjusted cost for home care was 3150 forint, some 32% lower than in the clinic. Passive sensor telemedical non-stress cardiotocography at home was therefore less expensive than the same test performed in the traditional way in an outpatient clinic.