OBJECTIVES: This health economic analysis aims to evaluate the suitability of video consultations for the follow-up care of orthopedic and trauma surgery patients from the health providers' perspective, to investigate the financial and personnel impact on the hospital, and to provide a basis for future decision making on implementing telemedicine in orthopedic and trauma surgery.

METHODS: The study was based on data from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated video consultations versus face-to-face consultations in the clinic. The suitability of the use of telemedicine was assessed by the Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire and the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire. In addition, various model calculations were performed for savings in personnel costs, the number of additional treatable patients, and the break-even point of telemedicine based on differences in the time required for video consultations compared to face-to-face consultations.

RESULTS: 69.23% of all patients agreed that telemedicine provided for their healthcare needs and there was no significant difference in the change of patient utility between groups after three months (mean 0.02 vs. mean 0.07, P=0.347). The use of telemedicine reduced personnel costs by around 24.63%, which could result in potential savings in the model calculation of up to €85,938.09 in personnel costs annually if video consultation hours were extended to 10% of all ambulatory patients at the clinic. Simultaneously, the model calculation showed that with 10 hours of video consultations per week, 862,03 additional patients could be treated annually. 23 video consultations per month were required to recoup the software fees of telemedicine through reduced personnel costs for a senior physician (break-even point = 22.94).

CONCLUSIONS: The use of telemedicine is suitable for follow-up care of patients in orthopedic and trauma surgery, leads to savings in personnel costs, and can increase the volume of additional treatable patients seen from the health providers' perspective.