Cost-Analysis of Telemedicine Interventions Compared with Traditional Care in the Management of Chronic Neurological Diseases: A Systematic Review

Background: Telemedicine has proven successful in relieving the burden of chronic neurological disorders from the national health care systems by ensuring a highly customized and effective management plan. Although many studies focus on assessing telemedicine effectiveness, little is known about the economic implications of telemedicine applications in chronic neurological diseases (CNDs). This issue could account for a lack of widespread implementation.Objective: Our study attempted to fill this gap by systematically reviewing scientific literature on the economic evaluation of telemedicine compared with traditional care in the management of CNDs.Methods: We performed a literature search on PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Embase, and Medline. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) studies with a full cost-analysis; (2) randomized controlled trials; (3) studies comparing telemedicine interventions with traditional care; (4) articles focusing only on CNDs. Conversely, the exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) studies focusing on acute neurological conditions or other diseases and (2) study protocols, case report, duplicate articles, abstract only, books, letters to editors, and review articles.Results: Ten articles met the inclusion criteria. Three different approaches of telemedicine intervention could be identified: digital cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), motor telerehabilitation, and home monitoring and assessment devices.Conclusion: Cost-analysis showed an overall benefit in terms of both cost and effectiveness from the application of telemedicine instead of in-presence management in CNDs. Among the identified interventions, digital CBT proved to be the most cost-saving. However, promising results were also found in monitoring and assessment devices and in telerehabilitation. Definitely, however, more thorough, comprehensive, and high-quality economic evaluation studies are needed.