Evaluation of telehealth service for patients with congestive heart failure in the north of Israel

Aims: This research was conducted to evaluate the impact of a telehealth service on re-hospitalization of patients with congestive heart failure at New York Heart Association II-IV. Methods and results: The telehealth service for congestive heart failure patients was designed to follow the patients after their daily weighing and to provide a response in cases of non-compliance or deviation from baseline weight. A weighing scale was installed in the patient's house together with a communication module connected to the telemedicine control centre through a telephone line. The control centre is staffed by skilled nurses whose responses to patients are guided by programmed algorithm. Over a year, we evaluated the changes in the frequency of hospital admission and of primary care visits, and quality of life of 141 individuals who were eligible for the telehealth service for congestive heart failure. A decline was noted in the average number of hospitalizations per patient (from 4.7 to 2.6, p < 0.001). Scores of parameters of quality of life were improved (average score for first through fourth quarterly administration: 64, 50, 16, 16, p < 0.001 by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire). Conclusions: During the year of use in telehealth service for congestive heart failure parameters of hospitalization were improved, together with parameters of quality of life.