Home Telemonitoring In Heart Failure: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis

We conducted a meta-analysis of twenty-six randomized controlled trials that tested the effectiveness of home telemonitoring in patients with heart failure for reducing mortality and hospital use. We used the PICOT framework as a tool to address an important variable not previously studied: the timing or duration of monitoring. Specifically, we found that home telemonitoring decreased the odds of all-cause mortality and heart failure-related mortality at 180 days but not at 365 days. Home telemonitoring did not significantly affect the odds of all-cause hospitalization at 90 or 180 days, or of heart failure-related hospitalization at 180 days. At 180 days, home telemonitoring significantly increased the odds of all-cause emergency department visits. Home care provision did not moderate the effects of home telemonitoring on all-cause hospitalization. Recent regulatory changes that relaxed Medicare restrictions on telehealth reimbursement make it imperative that studies fully describe outcomes (for example, heart failure-related versus all-cause hospitalizations) and deliberately test all essential intervention elements, such as intervention duration.