Pediatric telehealth use can help shrink healthcare’s carbon footprint

Pediatric telehealth use is linked to a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, new research reveals.

Published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health, the study assessed the effects of telehealth use among pediatric patients on travel and, by extension, carbon emissions. The healthcare system contributes significantly to climate change. According to the Commonwealth Fund, the global healthcare sector accounts for 4.6 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane. In the United States, that figure is 8.5 percent.

For the study, University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers reviewed pediatric EMR data from August 2019 through February 2022. They gathered the data from an outpatient children's hospital in a rural area. They included all children from infancy through 18 years who were scheduled for a telehealth visit during the study period.

The research team also calculated the amount of greenhouse gas emissions savings from telehealth visits that replaced in-person outpatient visits in a one-year period starting on March 31, 2020.

During the study period, there were 20,845 pediatric telehealth visits, of which 51.8 percent were for general pediatric consultations, 10.4 percent for pediatric endocrinology, 8.4 percent for pediatric gastroenterology and 6.9 percent for adolescent medicine. The median age of patients was 8.

Telehealth use fluctuated over the course of the study period, rising from 35 between August 2019 and March 2020 to 1,329 in April 2020. This figure dipped to 948 from April 2020 through June 2021 and declined further to 792 by February 1, 2022.

In the year starting March 31, 2020, 1.56 million miles roundtrip in travel distance were eliminated. Using an estimate of 22.5 miles per gallon for the average US car, researchers determined that the eliminated travel represented a potential savings of 69,454 gallons of fuel. This equated to a yearly saving of 618 metric tons of CO2.

Thus, researchers concluded that the study “quantified an added benefit to the environment through reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, making an even stronger case for the use of telemedicine for any suitable pediatric patient.”

The study aligns with research showing a positive association between telehealth use and carbon emission reductions.

A Blue Shield of California case study published in July 2023 revealed that hybrid virtual care is associated with environmental benefits, including lower carbon emissions and water consumption.

The report notes that carbon emissions resulting from the US healthcare industry rose by 6 percent between 2010 and 2018. Blue Shield of California researchers used data from Paradise, California, a town severely affected by the 2018 Camp Fire, to conduct an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA).

They found that hybrid virtual care models lowered carbon emissions by 25 percent and water consumption by 35 percent. The report also indicated that a lower-emissions setting would contribute to a 50 percent drop in annual healthcare-related costs.

Similarly, a study published in January 2023 showed that the uptake of telehealth during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic cut carbon emissions and patient costs. The study examined data from five University of California healthcare systems.

The researchers found that telehealth eliminated 53.66 million miles in commuting distance, 204 years of travel time, and $33.54 million in travel-related costs. Additionally, they observed that carbon dioxide emission savings were close to 21,466 metric tons.

“The world is currently in a climate crisis. Being one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, the health care industry should be taking serious steps to decrease its carbon footprint and telehealth is one of them,” said Sristi Sharma, a University of California Davis preventive medicine physician and lead author of the study, in a press release.