INTRODUCTION

An experiment to assess the clinical outcomes and the economic efficiency of a videoconferencing system for the renal transplant patient's monitoring is currently under way at Nantes University Hospital (TELEGRAFT study, clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01615900). We conducted a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to investigate patients' preferences for this video-conferencing follow-up.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Our DCE method consisted in asking patients to choose between various hypothetical scenarios of renal transplant monitoring described by four attributes with varying levels. One of the scenarios corresponded to their current situation (status quo). The attributes were determined based on the literature, expert opinions and a pilot study: videoconferencing or in hospital follow-up, risk, flexibility in consultations planning and out-of-pocket cost. The analysis used multinomial conditional logit models.

RESULTS

68 patients filled the questionnaire. Respondents showed no systematic preference for the status quo. They expressed a significant preference for videoconferencing monitoring compared with in-hospital follow up (p<0.01) that was even more pronounced for longer time consuming consultation (p<0.1). They were less likely to choose scenarios with higher risks of graft loss or higher out-of-pocket expenses (p<0.01). Patients also expressed a preference for flexibility in planning consultation (p<0.1). .

CONCLUSION

Our exploratory study based on hypothetical choices indicates a significant patients' preference for videoconferencing follow-up. Further analyses of responses should estimate the patients' willingness to pay for a change from standard to video-conferencing follow-up and to determine the relative importance of each attribute considered in this experiment.

« Back to 2015 American Transplant Congress