TY - JOUR
T1 - Telehealth, sustainable economic development, and social welfare
AU - Wang, Fuhmei
N1 - Funding Information:
The author is thankful to the National Science Council in Taiwan for providing the foreign research scholarship, 99-2918-I-006-014 and to the Fulbright Foundation for the 2009–2010 research awards. Part of this research is conducted when the author was visiting as a scholar at the Department of Economics, Purdue University. The author thanks the hospitality offered by the Department, especially John Barron, the department chair. The author has no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this study.
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Country experiences in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Taiwan, and UK have been in favor of telehealth services since the early 1990s. Though a few studies do discuss evidence of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telehealth programs, the literature might limit to financial evaluation. This research investigates the welfare implications of conventional in-person and telecommunications health care as improving health levels or preventing health from deterioration for efficient resource allocation by incorporating government intervention for equal accessibility of health care in the economic progress perspective. Analytical findings indicate that the inverse U shape relationship between telehealth expenditure share and social welfare status exists as the nonlinear nexus between telehealth expenditure share and economic growth presents. The health dividend in terms of an enhanced economic growth rate can be achieved only when the initial share of telehealth expenditure is smaller than the growth-maximizing share. For economic sustainable development, telehealth initiatives strengthen rather than compete with conventional in-person health care. Research results guide the countries, which have or will have telehealth systems, for effectively allocating medical resources to stimulate economic growth and improve the population's well-being.
AB - Country experiences in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Taiwan, and UK have been in favor of telehealth services since the early 1990s. Though a few studies do discuss evidence of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telehealth programs, the literature might limit to financial evaluation. This research investigates the welfare implications of conventional in-person and telecommunications health care as improving health levels or preventing health from deterioration for efficient resource allocation by incorporating government intervention for equal accessibility of health care in the economic progress perspective. Analytical findings indicate that the inverse U shape relationship between telehealth expenditure share and social welfare status exists as the nonlinear nexus between telehealth expenditure share and economic growth presents. The health dividend in terms of an enhanced economic growth rate can be achieved only when the initial share of telehealth expenditure is smaller than the growth-maximizing share. For economic sustainable development, telehealth initiatives strengthen rather than compete with conventional in-person health care. Research results guide the countries, which have or will have telehealth systems, for effectively allocating medical resources to stimulate economic growth and improve the population's well-being.
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U2 - 10.3846/20294913.2012.754798
DO - 10.3846/20294913.2012.754798
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876114532
SN - 2029-4913
VL - 18
SP - 711
EP - 721
JO - Technological and Economic Development of Economy
JF - Technological and Economic Development of Economy
IS - 4
ER -