Overall , telemedicine was shown to be beneficial , with home-based teletransmission effectively reducing all-cause mortality and HF-related hospital admission , length of stay and mortality in patients with HF
Telemedicine interventions may be associated with reductions in hospital admission rate and mortality in patients with heart failure ( HF ) .
Randomized trial of an education and support intervention to prevent readmission of patients with heart failure.
OBJECTIVES We determined the effect of a targeted education and support intervention on the rate of readmission or death and hospital costs in patients with heart failure ( HF ) . BACKGROUND Disease management programs for patients with HF including medical components may reduce readmissions by 40 % or more , but the value of an intervention focused on education and support is not known . METHODS We conducted a prospect i ve , r and omized trial of a formal education and support intervention on one-year readmission or mortality and costs of care for patients hospitalized with HF . RESULTS Among the 88 patients ( 44 intervention and 44 control ) in the study , 25 patients ( 56.8 % ) in the intervention group and 36 patients ( 81.8 % ) in the control group had at least one readmission or died during one-year follow-up ( relative risk = 0.69 , 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] : 0.52 , 0.92 ; p = 0.01 ) . The intervention was associated with a 39 % decrease in the total number of readmissions ( intervention group : 49 readmissions ; control group : 80 readmissions , p = 0.06 ) . After adjusting for clinical and demographic characteristics , the intervention group had a significantly lower risk of readmission compared with the control group ( hazard ratio = 0.56 , 95 % CI : 0.32 , 0.96 ; p = 0.03 ) and hospital readmission costs of $ 7,515 less per patient . CONCLUSIONS A formal education and support intervention substantially reduced adverse clinical outcomes and costs for patients with HF
Overall , telemedicine was shown to be beneficial , with home-based teletransmission effectively reducing all-cause mortality and HF-related hospital admission , length of stay and mortality in patients with HF
Telemedicine interventions may be associated with reductions in hospital admission rate and mortality in patients with heart failure ( HF ) .