Economic potentials of delegation with and without telemedicine of people with diabetes - results of a subgroup analysis from a scoping review

Aim Delegation of medical activities in the care of chronically ill people is a highly discussed issue recently, especially considering the high prevalence and therefore the overall health costs of people with diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study is to identify the economic potentials of delegation. Method A systematic research was performed with defined keywords. A subgroup analysis of the developed scoping review investigated the found studies regarding preassigned items of design, outcome and cost. Results For the subgroup analysis, 20 studies (mostly randomised controlled studies) with 8567 patients were included. 81.25 % of these show an improvement of HbA1c. The majority of studies (60 %) analyzed delegation to nurses. 65 % of the investigated studies depict cost saving. Conclusion Despite the heterogeneity of the studies, most cost analyzes show financial savings. As a result, delegation appears to be a cost-effective supply model