Environmental Impact of a Pediatric and Young Adult Virtual Medicine Program: A Lesson from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

ObjectivesThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the expansion of virtual medicine as a method to provide patient care. We aimed to determine the impact of pediatric and young adult virtual medicine use on fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas, and nongreenhouse traffic-related air pollutant emissions. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of all virtual medicine patients at a single quaternary-care children’s hospital with a geocoded address in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to (March 16, 2019–March 15, 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 16, 2020–March 15, 2021). Primary outcomes included patient travel distance, gasoline consumption, carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter emissions as well as savings in main hospital energy use. ResultsThere were 3,846 and 307,273 virtual visits performed with valid Massachusetts geocoded addresses prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. During 1 year of the pandemic, virtual medicine services resulted in a total reduction of 620,231 gallons of fossil fuel use and $1,620,002 avoided expenditure as well as 5,492.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 186.3 kg of fine particulate matter emitted. There were 3.1 million fewer kilowatt hours used by the hospital intrapandemic compared to the year prior. Accounting for equipment emissions, the combined intrapandemic emission reductions are equivalent to the electricity required by 1,234 homes for 1 year. ConclusionsWidespread pediatric institutional use of virtual medicine provided environmental benefits. The true potential of virtual medicine for decreasing the environmental footprint of health care lies in scaling this mode of care to patient groups across the state and nation when medically feasible.