Table 8.

Benefits and drawbacks of telehealth according to the “Financial Impact/Cost” outcome factor per perspective.

Perspective and benefits of telehealth			Drawbacks of telehealth
Primary care clinician perspective
	Reduced telehealth setup costs because of existing infrastructure and processes (eg, adequate funding model and absence of billing or licensure restrictions) [9,18] Cost-effective in the long run because of reduced running costs compared with in-person consultations [9,22,31] Reimbursement model available for teleconsultations (eg, Medicare support in Australia) [28,29]	Expensive to set up a telehealth system from scratch [25] Long-term funding models are not globally determined, potentially opening up opportunities for commercial entities to exploit [25]
Patient perspective
	Some patients prefer telehealth consultations and are willing to pay [34] Some patients report that telehealth consultation fees are appropriate [24,31] Saving costs using telehealth (eg, travel costs to in-person clinics and for patients needing to take time off work for appointments) [34]	Mixed responses from some patients regarding willingness to pay for teleconsultation [26] Inappropriate telehealth consultation charges felt by some patients [24]