An economic evaluation of an advanced video conferencing system for cardiac multidisciplinary team meetings

Introduction Current UK and international guidelines advocate the need for multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussion of selected patients undergoing either percutaneous or surgical cardiac procedures to decide the optimal treatment strategy. To date, it is unknown if using videoconference facilities is cost-effective. Therefore, we performed a cost analysis of using a high-speed internet video conferencing system compared with conventional face-to-face MDT meetings. Methods Costs of running a conventional MDT meeting vs a video conferencing MDT were modelled and compared over a 2-year period. Participants were also surveyed on the overall effectiveness of conducting remote MDTs. Results The set-up and maintenance cost of the video conferencing system over 2 years was 30 pound 400. The staff costs of running the face-to-face MDT were 95 pound 970 and the video conferencing MDT was 23 pound 992.50. The total travel costs of the conventional face-to-face MDTs were 10 pound 555.34. In total, the cost of the conventional face-to-face MDT was 106 pound 525.34 and the video conferencing MDT was 54 pound 392.50 representing a cost saving of 48.9%. Participants rated the effectiveness of conducing a remote MDT and the ease of technology use as very good. Conclusions Video conferencing systems provide a highly cost-effective method of facilitating MDT meetings between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at remote centres.