Implementation of a Home Monitoring System for Heart Failure Patients: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

BackgroundImproving the management of patients with complex chronic disease is a substantial undertaking with the simultaneous goals of improving patient outcomes and controlling costs. Reducing avoidable hospitalization for such patients is a step toward both objectives. Some of the deterioration experienced in chronic disease patients occurs outside the view of their clinicians, and before the patient becomes overtly symptomatic. Home monitoring has been used for more than 20 years to detect deterioration earlier so that the patients could be treated before they became ill enough to require hospitalization. Patient participation is an important requirement for successful home monitoring. There has been some concern that patients would be unwilling or unable to engage in a program that collected multiple measurements. The Cedars-Sinai Cardiology Center provides a high-touch, intense management program for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). A group of their patients were chosen to join a complex, multidevice home monitoring system to see whether such patients would find value in the additional effort.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to determine whether patients already actively engaged in a high-touch intensive management program for CHF would take on the additional burden of a complex home monitoring effort.MethodsA total of 20 patients from the Cedars-Sinai group were enrolled in a monitoring program utilizing 5 different devices. Anonymous surveys were collected from the patients to assess their satisfaction with the program.ResultsIn total, 90% (18/20) completed the program, and 61% (11/20) submitted the survey. Among the 18 patients, overall compliance with the requested measurements was 70%. It was found that 73% (8/11) felt better about their health as a result of the program, whereas another 73% (8/11) believed that the care team now had a better picture of their health.ConclusionsSubstantial patient compliance and satisfaction can be achieved in a sophisticated home monitoring program.

A Personalized and Interactive Web-Based Health Care Innovation to Advance the Quality of Life and Care of Patients With Heart Failure (ACQUIRE-HF): A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study

“…However, as indicated in one of the quotes included in the paper, insufficient coaching and familiarity with the platform could be one reason why this subset of patients did not engage with the platform. This was also supported in a recent study on extra device monitoring in patients with HF [ 28 ].…”

Bioelectrical Impedance Spectroscopy for Monitoring Mammalian Cells and Tissues under Different Frequency Domains: A Review

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