scripps wired for health monitoring study

Conditions: Diabetes; Hypertension; Cardiac Arrhythmia

Summary: people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure) and cardiac (heart) arrhythmias tend to go to the doctor more often and have more tests done than those without those diseases. this can lead to increasing costs of healthcare and extra visits to doctors and healthcare facilities. there are now medical devices that can be used at home to monitor blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rhythms as well as other measurements. there have been some studies which show that when people take their own health readings, they are better able to control their disease, stay healthier and go to the doctor less often. in order to participate in the study participants will have been diagnosed with 1 or more of the following: diabetes, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias. this study is designed to test those devices and see if they can help participants stay healthier through the recording and tracking of health measurements. investigators will also be testing how easy it is to use these devices and whether or how easy it is to fit them in their daily schedule. participants will be given an iphone for use during the study and their recordings will be stored and displayed on the phone.

the study will evaluate the impact of a "wireless monitoring" intervention for chronically ill individuals with diabetes, hypertension, and arrhythmias. this project utilizes the concept of 'hot-spotting' in that investigators will aim to target individuals with the highest health care needs, which investigators have defined to be patients with these diagnoses who showed the highest health care utilization rates over the previous 12-month period based on reimbursement data from a large health care third party administrator. investigators aim to determine if wireless monitoring can reduce health care service utilization and thus health care costs for the small number of patients who spend the greatest number of health care dollars, thereby cutting the overall amount of health care spending dramatically. furthermore, investigators will be assessing whether or not access to health measurement data and the possibility of receiving feedback from a study staff member will increase the compliance of patients to their medication regimen, recommended diet and exercise. it is anticipated that armed with their own health data, these patients will be less likely to need acute care visits study participants will be employees of scripps health or dependents of employees covered with scripps insurance, administered by third-party administrator, health comp. in addition, patients will be currently enrolled or willing to enroll in health comp's disease management program. investigators predict that in addition to participation in the program, wireless monitoring will be associated with decreased inpatient health service utilization (hospital admissions, days of hospitalization) and decreased outpatient health service utilization (emergency department visits, need-based primary care clinic visits, and need-based specialty clinic visits). investigators predict that these decreases will translate into significant reductions in health care costs for the treatment group relative to a control group and relative to pre-monitoring utilization rates.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: 1. scripps health insured employee or adult family member 2. internet access and e-mail 3. provide permission for study staff to access medical records 4. participating in health comp disease management program or willingness to join 5. english speaking 6. within the past 12 months, a history of billing insurance for diagnostic codes consistent with diabetes, hypertension, and/or cardiac arrhythmia 7. 18 years and older 8. willingness to use wireless devices and study iphone exclusion criteria: 1. employee of scripps clinic medical group 2. related to or household sharing with another study participant (if there are two people or more in one household that are eligible, the member that has the highest utilization will be invited to join first) 3. unwilling or unable to grant informed consent 4. pregnancy