How Telemonitoring Technology is Improving Quality, Saving Lives and Conserving Dollars

Telemonitoring offers security and peace of mind to the families of those receiving health care in their homes. It compliments and enhances the face-to-face care that home health nurses continue to provide. Telemonitoring offers an early warning system that helps physicians and home health care providers intervene before symptom warnings become crises, make changes to the patient’s care plan, and prevent re-hospitalization. And it’s conserving dollars that allow our state’s home health care agencies to serve more patients.

Recently, VNA Healthcare, UCONN School of Nursing and the UCONN Center on Aging completed a study published in Home Health Care Management & Practice that tracked outcomes of heart failure patients who were monitored via telehealth in their homes. The research team found that telemonitoring and self-care education significantly reduced these patients' hospital readmission rates by 50 percent compared to a control group. The patients also reported improved quality of life and a greater ability to manage their health.

Telemonitoring recently saved the life of one of VNA Healthcare’s clients. Home health nurses, used to speaking with the homebound patient suffering from hypertension, had come to know her normal ‘baseline’ voice. One morning, the patient’s nurse checked the patient’s telemonitor and noticed that her blood pressure had dropped dramatically. The nurse also noted that the patient sounded weak, speaking in a soft voice.

A care supervisor called the patient’s daughter, who went to her mother’s home to assess the situation. Meanwhile, the nurse called the patient’s doctor, who advised the home health care team to temporarily halt the patient’s blood pressure medications. After the patient’s daughter reported that her mother was having bouts of diarrhea and was experiencing confusion, the patient was taken to the emergency department, where she was re–hydrated and released.

Over the next few days, the agency’s visiting and telemonitor nurses kept tabs on the patient through in-person visits and telemonitor checks. In consultation with her physician, they adapted dosing of her blood pressure medications, which helped normalize the patient’s blood pressure, preventing additional emergency care visits and hospitalizations.

In-home visits, seven days-per-week telemonitoring, physician consultations and family involvement enhanced the healthcare this patient was able to receive at home. In addition, continuous monitoring of her vital signs helped the patient improve and better manage her daily health routine.