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A Novel Digital Platform for a Monitored Home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
Published on: April 19, 2019
Digital health as a tool for patient activation and improving quality of care for heart failure
Aradhana Verma1, Zahra Azizi1, Alexander T Sandhu2,3,4
1Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 870 Quarry Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Insights
Patient-centered digital health tools can improve heart failure (HF) care by increasing patient engagement. These tools supplement clinician efforts, addressing gaps in implementing guideline-recommended treatments for better outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Digital Health
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Heart failure (HF) presents a significant clinical and economic burden, projected to increase with disease prevalence.
- Despite guideline-recommended therapies improving mortality and quality of life, significant gaps exist in their clinical implementation.
- Current quality improvement initiatives primarily focus on clinicians, yielding insufficient optimization of HF care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the value of patient-facing interventions in complementing clinician-centered approaches for heart failure management.
- To discuss leveraging digital health for patient activation and sustainable impact in heart failure care.
- To identify key principles and strategies for designing and implementing digital health innovations to maximize patient engagement.
Main Methods:
- Review and discussion of existing literature on patient-facing interventions and digital health in heart failure.
- Analysis of the potential of digital tools for patient engagement, self-care, and activation.
- Identification of barriers to the adoption of digital health interventions in heart failure management.
Main Results:
- Patient-facing interventions, particularly digital health tools, show promise in enhancing patient engagement and self-care.
- Digital health can activate patients, potentially amplifying the impact of existing and new quality improvement initiatives.
- Barriers to the adoption of digital health interventions in heart failure care exist and require strategic consideration.
Conclusions:
- Digital health innovations offer a powerful strategy to activate patients, thereby improving the quality and equity of heart failure care.
- Integrating patient activation through digital tools can unlock the full potential of quality improvement efforts in heart failure.
- Successful implementation requires careful design and strategic approaches to overcome adoption barriers and maximize patient participation.
Abstract:
The clinical and economic impact of heart failure (HF) is immense and will continue to rise due to the increasing prevalence of the disease. Despite the availability of guideline-recommended medications that improve mortality, reduce hospitalizations, and enhance quality of life, there are major gaps in the implementation of such care. Quality improvement interventions have generally focused on clinicians. While certain interventions have had modest success in improving the use of heart failure medications, they remain insufficient in optimizing HF care. Here, we discuss how patient-facing interventions can add value and supplement clinician-centered interventions. We discuss how digital health can be leveraged to create patient activation tools that create a larger, sustainable impact. Small studies have suggested the promise of digital tools for patient engagement and self-care, but there are also important barriers to the adoption of such interventions that we describe. We share key principles and strategies around the design and implementation of digital health innovations to maximize patient participation and engagement. By uniquely activating patients in their own care, digital health can unlock the full potential of both existing and new quality improvement initiatives to drive forward high-quality and equitable heart failure care.
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