Hospital utilization after a telemonitoring program: a pilot study.

The long-term effects of remote monitoring on hospital utilization and health care costs are understudied in home health care. The researchers performed a retrospective study, in a hospital-based home health care agency, to consider the effects of remote monitoring in 326 patients with heart failure 90 days after discharge from services. While statistical significance was not noted, clinical significance suggests that there was a decreased hospital utilization rate and decreased average cost per hospitalization in the remote monitoring group.