Does telemedicine affect prescribing quality in primary care?
Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 09/24
Date: June 2024
Author(s):
Abstract
We study how the diffusion of telemedicine technology impacted the quality and rates of antibiotic prescriptions using Australian survey data from primary care physicians linked to administrative records on their service provision. We classify physicians based on their relative use of telemedicine consultations in response to the introduction of government-subsidised telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and relate their rates of antibiotic prescriptions to indicators of prescribing quality before and after lockdown periods in a difference-indifferences design. Our results suggest that more frequent users of telemedicine prescribe relatively fewer antibiotics while keeping prescribing quality largely unchanged. We interpret these findings as evidence that telemedicine can enhance efficiency of service provision in primary care settings.