Economic impact of remote monitoring on ordinary follow-up of implantable cardioverter defibrillators as compared with conventional in-hospital visits. A single-center prospective and randomized study.

Introduction: Few data are available on actual follow-up costs of remote monitoring (RM) of implantable defibrillators (ICD). Our study aimed at assessing current direct costs of 1-year ICD follow-up based on RM compared with conventional quarterly in-hospital follow-ups.

Methods And Results: Patients (N = 233) with indications for ICD were consecutively recruited and randomized at implant to be followed up for 1 year with standard quarterly in-hospital visits or by RM with one in-hospital visit at 12 months, unless additional in-hospital visits were required due to specific patient conditions or RM alarms.