On October 16, Professor Wei Gu of the School of Economics and Management at USTB published a study on telemedicine follow-up care in Production and Operations Management, a leading journal on the UTD24 list .
The research, in collaboration with the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Dallas, examines whether remote follow-up visits improve care access, service efficiency, and medical quality.
Gu collaborated with Professor Meng Li of the University of Houston and Assistant Professor Shujing Sun of the University of Texas at Dallas. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design with patient data from a large hospital, the authors found that introducing tele-follow-up raised total follow-up visits by 48.14 percent.
Tele-follow-up also produced positive spillover effects on in-person care. On-site follow-up visits rose 14.11 percent, and initial visits rose 7.90 percent.
On the demand side, patients facing higher travel costs for in-person follow-up showed the greatest response once remote visits became available. On the supply side, dedicating the online channel to follow-up allows physicians to allocate their clinical attention more efficiently across both online and offline work shifts, which improves overall clinical efficiency.
Better access to follow-up care translated into lower readmission rates, the authors reported.
The study confirms the value of tele-follow-up and offers practical guidance for health systems using digital tools to strengthen continuity of care, Gu said.
Production and Operations Management is published by the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) and covers operations strategy, supply chain management, intelligent manufacturing, and data-driven operations.
