CHF Management Using Telemedicine

Improving CHF Outcomes Through Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) Data Acquisition and Targeted Nurse Follow-Up

The overall objective of this study is to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients by integrating a readily available, low cost technology - the telephone - into coordinated CHF care.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Telemedicine

Detailed Description

Strong patient-provider communication and vigilant home-based monitoring can be critical elements of successful chronic disease management. Among CHF patients, automated clinical data acquisition via the telephone can improve insight into inappropriate use of medications and onset of fluid overload or edema - indicating deteriorating heart function (notably worsening ejection fraction). Routine, timely monitoring of this data can direct a nurse case manager to the subset of CHF patients likely to benefit from a clinic visit, evaluation, diagnosis, and counseling. This should result in: significantly increased medication compliance, significantly lower emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions (both those related to CHF and other conditions related to diminished physical capacity of patients with CHF), and improved physical function.

This study is intended to answer three questions. First, do potentially avoidable acute events (measured by ED visits and hospital admissions) decrease when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care? Second, does medication compliance improve when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care? Third, does perceived health status (physical and emotional function) improve when CHF management is accompanied by systematic telephone-based monitoring as compared with usual care?

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 106
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30305
      • Kaiser Permanente - Georgia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 30 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Physician diagnosed CHF
• Member of Kaiser Permanente Georgia

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Quality of life
Change between study entry and exit (6-months later) in frequency of recommended CHF self-care practices (maintain CHF diary, check weight daily, check ankles and feet for swelling daily)
Knowledge of signs of worsening CHF (sudden weight gain, increase in shortness of breath)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Rate of acute CHF exacerbations (ED visits or hospital admissions for CHF or CHF-related conditions) in the 6-month intervention period compared with the 6-month period preceding study entry.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kaiser Permanente
• Collaborators: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Douglas Roblin, PhD, Kaiser Permanente - Georgia Region

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: November 1, 2001
• Study Completion: August 1, 2002

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 31, 2006
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2006
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): April 3, 2006

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE): April 3, 2006
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2006
• Last Verified: March 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Heart Failure
• Other Study ID Numbers: Project # 041873