A cost measurement study for a tele-oncology practice

Summary The costs of providing oncology services in three different ways were measured. Services were provided to a peripheral hospital by: conventional clinics, in which the oncologist worked at the hospital concerned; outreach clinics, in which an oncologist was flown in periodically from a central hospital; and telemedicine clinics, in which the oncologist at the central hospital practised via a video-link. During a one-year study period, 2400 patients were seen in conventional clinics, 81 in outreach clinics and 103 in telemedicine clinics. At these workloads the average costs per patient were 149, 897 and 812, respectively. However, the average costs cannot be compared directly without further information about the shape of the unit cost curves.