Telehealth system in Queensland

Abstract

[Abstract]: This paper is based on a research project with the aim for analyzing costs and benefits of Telehealth system from the different stakeholders’ perspective and finding the best method for forecasting the number of patients for a given set of data environment. The research is based on a case study of Telehealth system in Kingaroy in Queensland, Australia. It was found that having Telehealth system in place would benefit patients financially even without considering the intangible benefits. From the outsiders’ (researchers) perspective, the benefits are even greater. However, from the Government’s point of view there are no financial gains due to overlooking the patients’ benefits. Considering the scattered nature of population in Australia and the apparent shortage of healthcare professionals, the Government may redefine costs and benefits. The net benefit of the system is directly related to the number of service recipients. The existence of a positive trend with regard to the usage of Telehealth system suggests that this type of technology will have a secure position within the Health Services in the future. Finally, using a Statistical forecasting technique such as Winters appears to be a suitable approach for the current information level. However, having additional information on unforeseen events such as occurrence of incidents (epidemic diseases) and relevant policies in a particular month would make the use of Multiple Regression more attractive than the Winters’ method. These features can only be addressed by Multiple Regression and appropriate dummy variables.