Health Economic Implications of Remote Patient Management

Remote patient management and telemedicine have great potential to improve the care of patients with end-stage kidney disease undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). Since PD is performed by patients and their families, typically in the home setting away from expert clinical support, remote monitoring of treatments may detect early problems, ensure compliance, and give both providers and patients a sense of reassurance that complications can be minimized and detected. These advantages may translate into improved outcomes and increased uptake of home dialysis therapies. Estimates of the financial impact of these potential improvements in care can be performed and are discussed in this chapter. These economic impacts are potentially significant and further the case for carefully designed clinical trials to assess the impact of these new technologies.