The current data confirms previous health economic evaluations: If patients with chronic heart failure are receive telemedical supervision, this means that they will require less and shorter hospital care. In this study hospital expenses dropped by around 70 percent in a year. The data was presented in a poster at this year’s meeting of the European Society for Cardiology (ESC) in Barcelona by Prof. Dr. med. Klaus Pethig, head cardiologist at Hamm Protestant hospital and Fabrizio Zucca, health economist at SHL Telemedizin.
In a case control study the data of a total of 2,182 patients (TAUNUS BKK insured) was compared, who were previously treated in hospital at least once due to heart failure. 425 patients of SHL Telemedizin received telemedical treatment in addition to conventional therapy. For this they received a pair of scales, a blood pressure meter as well as a 12-channel ECG at home and were encouraged to submit weight, blood pressure and pulse to SHL’s telemedicine centre on a daily basis. In addition to this they were able to send a 12-channel ECG by telephone if necessary and have this assessed if they felt unwell. 1,757 patients in the control group were assigned to the Telemedizin Group, comparably by age, gender and reason for their illness. The health economic assessment took place at the Lower Rhine University in Krefeld under the management of Prof. Dr. med. Benno Neukirch.
After an observation period of twelve months 37 percent of patients under telemedical supervision needed to attend hospital 258 times for different reasons. They spent on average 4 ± 8 days in hospital. 68 percent of the control group stayed in hospital 2,892 times, where they spent on average 14 ± 21 days. The number of hospitalisations and the length of the hospital stays for patients under telemedical supervision were significantly shorter than for the control group receiving traditional treatment.
“The current data clearly corroborates previous health economic evaluations: The benefit of Telemedicine for patients with heart failure is evident today", explains Prof. Pethig at the ESC Congress in Barcelona. “For patients with a chronic disease it is a big help when they don’t need to be admitted to hospital as often. They feel safer in everyday life and a large piece of quality of life is restored to them."
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