Abstract

ORUETA, J.F. et al. Prevalence and costs of chronicity and multimorbidity in the population covered by the Basque public telecare service. Anales Sis San Navarra [online]. 2013, vol.36, n.3, pp.429-440. ISSN 1137-6627.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1137-66272013000300008.

Background: The public telecare service in Euskadi (betiON) is a service offered by the Department of Employment and Social Policy of the Basque Government and offers telephone support to elderly and disabled populations, providing communication with an assistance centre. This connection with health care devices allows implementing shared information systems with health and social data, which enable a characterization of the attended population and the development of integrated models for health and social provision. Objective: To describe the distribution of chronic diseases and multimorbidity among users of betiON, to estimate the cost of their health care and to compare these indicators with those of the general population. Methods: We extracted information from betiON and public healthcare databases. We characterized telecare population above 65 years (N = 23.742) and compared it with the total Euskadi one (N = 2.262.707) with respect to demographic, socio-economic burden, costs and ambulatory care sensitive conditions. Results: In the telecare population, the average age is 83 years, 80% are women, 55,1% live alone and dwell in poorer neighborhoods. A 42,5% of males and 36,5% of women are affected by five or more chronic conditions, averaging 4,06 pathologies per person. Also they exhibit higher healthcare costs than the general population. Conclusions: Telecare users have a higher disease burden, greater need for healthcare and unfavorable social conditions. Telecare provides an opportunity for innovation and intervention, through coordination of social and healthcare services.

Keywords : Multimorbidity; Chronic diseases; Telehealth; Chronicity; Health care costs.

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