Telehealth for Cancer Care Helps Patients, Planet [Video]

Key Takeaways

Telemedicine care for cancer could help ease global warmingCancer care in the U.S. could generate 33% less emissions if it shifted to telemedicine careEmissions reductions could be even higher in different parts of the country

TUESDAY, June 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Telemedicine visits for cancer care could help save the planet while also making things easier on patients, a new study has found.

Nationwide, cancer care could generate 33% less greenhouse gas emissions if it shifted to telemedicine from the traditional model of in-patient care, researchers reported June 3 in the journal JAMA Oncology. The findings were simultaneously presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Boston.

“While health care in the United States provides health benefits to many people, it generates substantial amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and inadvertently harm health,” said co-lead researcher Dr. Andrew Hantel. He’s a faculty member of …