Willingness to pay for telemedicine assessed by the double-bounded dichotomous choice method

We investigated the willingness of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) to pay for access to medical care via telemedicine, as an alternative to visits to a physician's office. Willingness to pay was estimated using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. One hundr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of telemedicine and telecare 2004-01, Vol.10 (6), p.325-330
Main Authors: Bradford, W David, Kleit, Andrew N, Krousel-Wood, M A, Re, Richard M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Attitude to Health
Fees and Charges
Female
Health Services Accessibility - economics
Health Services Needs and Demand - economics
Heart Failure - economics
Heart Failure - psychology
Heart Failure - therapy
Humans
Hypertension - economics
Hypertension - psychology
Hypertension - therapy
Likelihood Functions
Male
Middle Aged
Models, Statistical
Telemedicine
Telemedicine - economics
United States
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Summary:We investigated the willingness of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) to pay for access to medical care via telemedicine, as an alternative to visits to a physician's office. Willingness to pay was estimated using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. One hundred and twenty-six patients were surveyed after their discharge from a CHF-related hospital stay. As expected, willingness to pay was negatively related to price. When people are presented with a survey question about value, particularly when the good being valued is not traded in the market, the question itself can affect the person's perception of value. However, the survey results showed no evidence of such a 'framing' effect. We found that 55% of the patients would be willing to pay $20 to access telemedicine instead of travelling to the physician's office, for at least some of their care. When the price was raised to $40, the proportion willing to pay fell to 19%. This suggests that telemedicine may be close to being commercially feasible in the USA.
ISSN:1357-633X
1758-1109
DOI:10.1258/1357633042601991