Previously submitted to: JMIR Mental Health (no longer under consideration since Apr 24, 2026)
Date Submitted: May 17, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: May 23, 2025 - Jul 18, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Impact of Telehealth Psychological Services for Mental Health Disorders in Australia: A Retrospective Economic Evaluation
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mental health disorders, particularly anxiety, constitute a significant burden in Australia, affecting 1 in 5 individuals annually. While telehealth has emerged as a strategic solution to expand access, evidence on its economic impact within the Australian context remains limited.
Objective:
This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of telehealth-delivered psychological services by clinical psychologists compared to in-person care and no treatment among adults with mental health disorders in Australia.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was conducted using Medicare Benefits Schedule data from April 2020 to June 2022. A Markov cohort model simulated health transitions over a five-year horizon, incorporating healthcare payer and societal perspectives. Health outcomes were measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).
Results:
Telehealth services were cost-effective, yielding an ICER of AUD $5,395/QALY compared to no treatment and dominating in-person services from a societal perspective due to reduced indirect costs. The estimated national budget impact was AUD $1.40 per member per month. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the model’s robustness.
Conclusions:
Telehealth for mental health is both cost-effective and cost-saving in Australia. These findings support the continued funding and integration of telehealth into national mental health policy to improve access and equity.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.