Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of teledermatology: where are we now, and what are the barriers to adoption?
Open accessAbstract
There has been rapid growth in teledermatology over the past decade, and teledermatology services are increasingly being used to support patient care across a variety of care settings. Teledermatology has the potential to increase access to high-quality dermatologic care while maintaining clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness. Recent expansions in telemedicine reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ensure that teledermatology will play an increasingly prominent role in patient care. Therefore, it is important that dermatologists be well informed of both the promises of teledermatology and the potential practice challenges a continuously evolving mode of care delivery brings. In this article, we will review the evidence on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of teledermatology and we will discuss system-level and practice-level barriers to successful teledermatology implementation as well as potential implications for dermatologists.
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Store-and-forward teledermatology is particularly popular as it requires fewer resources and less coordination than synchronous teledermatology.
“Although both synchronous and asynchronous approaches have been shown to be cost-effective, SFTD is particularly popular as it requires fewer resources and less coordination than synchronous teledermatology.2 3”
From Diagnostic reliability in teledermatology: a systematic review and a meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [3]
Both synchronous and asynchronous teledermatology approaches have been shown to be cost-effective.
“Although both synchronous and asynchronous approaches have been shown to be cost-effective, SFTD is particularly popular as it requires fewer resources and less coordination than synchronous teledermatology.2 3”
From Diagnostic reliability in teledermatology: a systematic review and a meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [3]
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Diagnostic reliability in teledermatology: a systematic review and a meta-analysis
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- Authors
- Wang, R. H., Barbieri, J. S., Nguyen, H. P., Stavert, R., Forman, H. P., Bolognia, J. L., & Kovarik, C. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Barbieri, John S.
- Venue
- Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 299-307
- ISSN
- 0190-9622 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7302990
- OpenAlex
- W3004717924
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 14
- FWCI
- 16.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Healthcare Systems and Technology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cutaneous Melanoma Detection and Management
- Keywords
- teledermatology, telemedicine, clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, barriers to adoption, telehealth reimbursement, access to dermatologic care, telehealth implementation, dermatology practice
- MeSH terms
- Cost-Benefit Analysis, Dermatology, Health Plan Implementation, Health Policy, Health Services Accessibility, Humans, Insurance, Health, Reimbursement, Skin Diseases, United States, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S., Treatment Outcome, Telemedicine
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