How Telehealth Can Reduce Carbon Emissions

Many have grown to embrace the convenience of telehealth brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. But now researchers have found that taking your doctor’s appointments from the couch could have another upside: it’s good for the environment. 

A new study, published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Managed Care on April 22, has found the use of telemedicine could have an impact in reducing carbon emissions. The findings showed that telehealth decreased the number of cars on the road in the U.S., reducing monthly carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of up to 130,000 gas-powered cars. 

Researchers quantified nearly 1.5 million telemedicine visits in urban and rural areas between April 1 and June 30, 2023 and estimated that anywhere between 741,000 to 1.35 million of those visits were substitutes for in-person visits. Using those calculations, they determined that telemedicine use cut CO2 emissions by a range of roughly 23,500 and 52,500 tons each month during the time studied—equivalent to the emissions produced by 61,000 to 130,000 gas powered vehicles.  

“The health care sector contributes significantly to the global carbon footprint,” Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, the study’s co-senior author and professor of medicine and director of Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan, said in a press release. The U.S. health system currently contributes almost 9% of the country’s emissions, while transportation accounts for about 29%. “Our findings suggest that the environmental impact of medical care delivery can be reduced when lower-carbon options, such as telemedicine, are substituted for other services that produce more emissions.”

The health care system has not shied away from the need to lower its carbon footprint. Around the world, some clinics are reconsidering what items can be reused or recycled, as well as beginning to phase out an anesthetic known as desflurane, one bottle of which is equivalent to driving a gas car 2,200 miles..

Some limitations remain, however. The researchers of the new study say that, though the participants had sociodemographic characteristics that were similar to those of U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the findings may not represent the broader population or account for regional variations, such as seasonal trends or internet access. Telemedicine use has also fallen since the end of the COVID pandemic, which could have led them to overestimate the true amount of averted emissions in the future.

All the same, the findings could help sway policies, researchers say, as Congress continues to debate the extension of pandemic-era flexibilities and Medicare waivers for the use of telehealth.