La valutazione economica e delle performance nell’e-health: una revisione della letteratura

Over the last fifty years, Europe has been experiencing an increase in the volume of chronic diseases and life expectancy. The health conditions of patients with chronic illnesses often require frequent and specialized medical assistance. The phenomenon of e-health fits into this context to improve access to health care and ever-increasing attention to the containment of health costs. This study investigates which methods are included in the recent literature for measuring performance and the economic evaluation of e-health. A structured literature review was conducted using the Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Pubmed/Medline databases to answer the research question: “What are the economic and performance measurement methods of e-health?”. Twenty contributions were considered eligible for the analysis. The studies included in the literature review identified a combined use of three main methods: cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit and cost-utility, without any preference emerging concerning one or the other method, depending on the pathology identified. Although the selected sample is limited, multiple technological tools emerge for patient support in numerous pathologies. These findings underline the strategic role that e-health tools have in the healthcare landscape and their future development opportunities, also within a virtual hospital model of care.