Our telemonitor data for 2015 shows that telemonitors in the home are proven tools to help central Vermonters better self-manage their disease processes.
Using a co-case management model, whereby our Telehealth Nurse and the individual’s visiting home health nurse coordinate care with the individual’s physician, we decreased unnecessary hospitalizations and ER visits for some of our most fragile patients.
- Of 166 patients with a diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure, only 3.6% were hospitalized for a CHF exacerbation
- Of 126 patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, only 7.9% were hospitalized for COPD exacerbation
The CMS national all-cause rate of hospitalization is 16%. Data represents 60-day hospitalization rates for Medicare patients.
“It is gratifying that our most fragile patients when on telemonitoring can avoid the stresses and costs associated with hospitalization,” says Connie Colman, RN, MEd., CVHHH’s Director of Quality Management.
For almost a year, CVHHH has been working closely with CVMC on the UVM Health Network Heart Failure Reducing Readmission Project designed to reduce hospitalization by improving transitions of care, incorporating telemonitoring and following specific protocols and standards of care across providers, especially when an individual is discharged from the hospital and returns home.
Telemonitors are easy-to-use portable devices that prompt patients daily to measure and record vital signs. Information is transmitted to CVHHH, where our Telehealth Nurse, Nicole Keaty, reviews the data and follows-up with the individual and/or the individual’s physician within the day, if there is a medical need.
With close, regular monitoring of an individual’s vital signs, and through collaboration with our visiting home health nurses and physician partners, we are able to help central Vermonters take an active, engaged role in managing their conditions.
Do You Want to Learn More About CVHHH’s Telemonitor Program? Click here to learn more about telemonitors and to listen to one of our patients, Betty, of Williamstown, talk about her daily telemonitor routine.