Impact of Telemedicine on Mortality, Length of Stay, and Cost Among Patients in Progressive Care Units: Experience From a Large Healthcare System*

Objectives: To determine whether Telemedicine intervention can affect hospital mortality, length of stay, and direct costs for progressive care unit patients. Design: Retrospective observational. Setting: Large healthcare system in Florida. Patients: Adult patients admitted to progressive care unit (PCU) as their primary admission between December 2011 and August 2016 (n = 16,091). Interventions: Progressive care unit patients with telemedicine intervention (telemedicine PCU [TPCU]; n = 8091) and without telemedicine control (nontelemedicine PCU [NTPCU]; n = 8000) were compared concurrently during study period. Measurements and Main Results: Primary outcome was progressive care unit and hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were hospital length of stay, progressive care unit length of stay, and mean direct costs. The mean age NTPCU and TPCU patients were 63.4 years (95% CI, 62.9–63.8 yr) and 71.1 years (95% CI, 70.7–71.4 yr), respectively. All Patient Refined-Diagnosis Related Group Disease Severity (p

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