Telehealth Protocol to Prevent Readmission Among High-Risk Patients With Congestive Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND: Congestive heart failure is the leading cause of hospital readmissions. We aimed to assess adherence to and effectiveness of a telehealth protocol designed to prevent hospital admissions for congestive heart failure.

METHODS: We recruited a random sample of 50 patients with congestive heart failure (mean age 61 years) from a managed care organization. We developed a telehealth platform allowing for daily, real-time reporting of health status and video conferencing. We defined adherence as the percentage of days on which the patient completed the daily check-in protocol. To assess efficacy, we compared admission and readmission rates between the 6-month intervention period and the prior 6 months. Primary outcomes were admissions and readmissions due to congestive heart failure, and secondary outcomes were admissions and readmissions due to any cause.

RESULTS: Forty-eight patients (96%) completed the protocol. Approximately half (46%) were at high risk for readmission according to standardized measures. Median 120-day adherence was 96% (interquartile range, 92%-98%), and adherence did not significantly differ across sex, race, age, living situation, depression, cognitive ability, or risk for readmission. Approximately equal proportions of patients were admitted for all causes during the 6-month intervention period versus the comparison period (37% vs 43%; P = .32). Half as many patients were admitted for congestive heart failure during the 6-month intervention period compared with the comparison period (12% vs 25%; P = .11).

CONCLUSION: Adherence to this telehealth protocol was excellent and consistent, even among high-risk patients. Future research should test the protocol using a more rigorous randomized design.