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 ) .
The effect of a randomized trial of home telemonitoring on medical costs, 30-day readmissions, mortality, and health-related quality of life in a cohort of community-dwelling heart failure patients.
BACKGROUND Telemonitoring has been advocated as a way of decreasing costs and improving outcomes , but no study has looked at true Medicare payments and 30-day readmission rates in a r and omized group of well treated patients . OBJECTIVE The aim of this work was to analyze Medicare cl aims data to identify effects of home telemonitoring on medical costs , 30-day rehospitalization , mortality , and health-related quality of life . METHODS A total of 204 subjects were r and omized to usual-care and monitored groups and evaluated with the SF-36 and Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Question naire ( MLHF ) . Hospitalizations , Medicare payments , and mortality were also assessed . Monitored subjects transmitted weight , blood pressure , and heart rate , which were monitored by an experienced heart failure nurse practitioner . RESULTS Subjects were followed for 802 ± 430 days ; 75 subjects in the usual-care group ( 316 hospitalizations ) and 81 in the monitored group ( 327 hospitalizations ) were hospitalized at least once ( P = .51 ) . There were no differences in Medicare payments for inpatient or emergency department visits , and length of stay was not different between groups . There was no difference in 30-day readmissions ( P = .627 ) or mortality ( P = .575 ) . Scores for SF-36 and MLHF improved ( P < .001 ) over time , but there were no differences between groups . The percentage of patients readmitted within 30 days was lower with telemonitoring for the 1st year , but this did not persist . CONCLUSIONS Telemonitoring did not result in lower total costs , decreased hospitalizations , improved symptoms , or improved mortality . A decrease in 30-day readmission rates for the 1st year did not result in decreased total cost or better outcomes
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 ) .