Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Healthcare is a substantial contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Digital health interventions (DHIs), such as telemedicine and remote patient monitoring (RPM), offer the potential to reduce healthcare’s environmental footprint while maintaining or improving patient outcomes. This study evaluates the environmental impact of remote-care DHIs, analyzes metrics for evaluating this impact through HEOR methodologies and frameworks, and examines implications for healthcare decision-makers and systems.
METHODS: A targeted literature review was conducted through PubMed and gray literature sources from January 2019 to December 2024. Inclusion criteria focused on articles, case studies, and industry reports quantifying environmental benefits of DHIs. Data extraction captured intervention type, environmental metrics, and methodological frameworks.
RESULTS: Fifteen papers reported on metrics relevant for HEOR evaluations, including life cycle assessment-based CO₂ reductions, avoided resource use, and economic valuations of environmental benefit for DHIs. Telemedicine consultations in 2020 from ~640,000 patient appointments in Spain avoided over 6,600 tons of CO₂ emissions by eliminating travel and using digital health reports. Additionally, DHIs showed no evidence of adversely affecting patient outcomes; one study found no significant difference in readmission rates for heart failure patients receiving telemonitoring, while another indicated that RPM for chronic disease management reduced hospital readmissions.
CONCLUSIONS: DHIs can improve environmental sustainability within healthcare and drive innovation in patient care. These findings highlight the opportunity for healthcare systems to implement DHIs to support sustainability targets while maintaining or enhancing patient outcomes. Life sciences companies should consider incorporating sustainability metrics into HEOR research to quantify the environmental impact of products and devices. Aligning with environmental goals address regulatory and societal pressures, positioning sustainability as a differentiator in an increasingly eco-conscious healthcare ecosystem. Future research should prioritize continued data collection on environmental outcomes to strengthen this emerging framework.