Telehealth-Enabled Cancer Care Can Lead to Carbon Emissions Savings

A recent study from JAMA Network Open found that following the implementation of telehealth within a single-institution National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center, there were steep carbon emissions savings, indicating that virtual care could help reduce the healthcare-related carbon footprint.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), climate change greatly affects human health and disease, putting people of a certain age and economic status, and in some locations, at higher risk.

Researchers who conducted the study noted that in addition to the healthcare community supporting policies that aim to slow climate change, professionals could review the relationship between their practices and carbon dioxide emissions and determine potential solutions.

In this study, researchers aimed to gather information regarding the effect telehealth use has on carbon emissions. They conducted a cross-sectional study within a single institution NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.

The study population totaled 23,228 patients, a group that participated in 49,329 telehealth visits between April 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. The visits were divided into those occurring among patients with a driving time of driving 60 minutes or less, which totaled 21,489, and those among patients with a commute exceeding 60 minutes, which totaled 27,840. 

The researchers found that among the group of patients who lived within an hour of the cancer center, 424,471 kg of carbon dioxide emissions were saved because of telehealth. Among the group with a commute longer than an hour, 2.7 million kg of carbon dioxide emissions were saved due to telehealth.

Based on this data, researchers concluded that telehealth use was correlated with carbon emissions savings, which indicates that virtual care use could help reduce the healthcare-related carbon footprint.

Limitations of the study, however, include a slight underestimation of carbon emissions savings, changes in public transportation use levels, the omission of carbon emissions produced by commuting clinicians, and the amount of electricity used in telehealth appointments. Further, the study results are specific to the health system and take into account the regional characteristics and patient demographics of that organization.

Also, researchers noted the need to conclude whether long-term oncologic outcomes with telehealth match those that result from in-person visits.

Similarly, a study from January found that aside from the improvements in patient outcomes that derived from telehealth uptake, there were also financial and environmental benefits, largely because of the cut in carbon footprint.

Researchers reached this conclusion after reviewing data from five University of California healthcare systems from the initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that telehealth use correlated with significant reductions in commuting distances, travel time, and travel costs, as well as injuries and deaths.

Researchers also noted that this data is key to mitigating the climate crisis, as vehicle trips increase greenhouse gas emissions. They observed that during the first two years of the pandemic, carbon dioxide emission savings were close to 21,466 metric tons because fewer vehicle trips took place during this time.

Another study from January found that growing telehealth oncology services lessened challenges related to travel, time, and money among nonelderly cancer patients.

Following an economic evaluation of cost savings related to completed telehealth visits, researchers noted that although cost savings differed between new or established visits and follow-up visits, telehealth saved patient time and expenses overall.