Managing heart failure care using an internet-based telemedicine system.

Background: Managing patients with heart failure (HF) is labor intensive, and follow-up is often inadequate to detect day-to-day changes that ultimately lead to decompensation. We tested the effect of an Internet-based telemedicine (T) system that provides frequent surveillance and increased communicate between HF patients and their provider on frequency of hospitalization in a cohort of patients with advanced HF.

Methods And Results: HF patients in NYHA Class II-IV were randomized to usual care (UC, n = 24) or T (T plus UC, n = 24) and followed for 1 year.

Web-based Internet telemedicine management of patients with heart failure.

An Internet-based store-and-retrieval telemedicine system to communicate between patients and their healthcare provider was tested. The system requires no specialized equipment, is Web-based, and allows frequent surveillance of the health status of the patients with heart failure (HF). Thirty six patients were recruited to evaluate a Web-based telemedicine system for reducing care encounters.