Socioeconomic impact of e-Health services in major joint replacement: A scoping review.

Abstract

e-Health is a widespread healthcare practice in the medical community, supported by technology-based applications aiming to deliver health services in an efficient manner, improving the quality of life and providing a wide range of health and socio-economic benefits to patients. To investigate the use of e-Health and mobile applications for the follow-up of major joint arthroplasty patients and the socio-economic impact of e-Health services on arthroplasty patients. Studies published after 2000 in English language, enrolling patients who underwent total knee or hip replacement, applying e-Health solutions and highlighting the economic benefits obtained by patients, doctors and healthcare systems were considered for inclusion in the present study. Five studies satisfied our inclusion criteria and were included in qualitative analysis. In this paper, the use of e-Health for the follow-up of major joint arthroplasty patients and the positive impact in terms of cost, time and hospital visits reduction by applying e-Health solutions on arthroplasty patients are reviewed in detail as reported in the included studies. The majority of the included studies reported a positive impact in terms of cost, time and hospital visits reduction.