CHF Management Using Telemedicine

• Change between study entry and exit (6-months later) in frequency of recommended CHF self-care practices (maintain CHF diary, check weight daily, check ankles and feet for swelling daily)
  
• Knowledge of signs of worsening CHF (sudden weight gain, increase in shortness of breath)
  
• Quality of life
  

• Rate of acute CHF exacerbations (ED visits or hospital admissions for CHF or CHF-related conditions) in the 6-month intervention period compared with the 6-month period preceding study entry.
  

Strong patient-provider communication and vigilant home-based monitoring can be critical elements of successful chronic disease management. Among CHF patients, automated clinical data acquisition via the telephone can improve insight into inappropriate use of medications and onset of fluid overload or edema – indicating deteriorating heart function (notably worsening ejection fraction). Routine, timely monitoring of this data can direct a nurse case manager to the subset of CHF patients likely to benefit from a clinic visit, evaluation, diagnosis, and counseling. This should result in: significantly increased medication compliance, significantly lower emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions (both those related to CHF and other conditions related to diminished physical capacity of patients with CHF), and improved physical function.

This study is intended to answer three questions. First, do potentially avoidable acute events (measured by ED visits and hospital admissions) decrease when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care? Second, does medication compliance improve when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care? Third, does perceived health status (physical and emotional function) improve when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care?