According to the paper,
published last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 14.7 percent
of those remotely monitored died within 12 months of being enrolled in
the study, while just 3.9 percent in the control group died during the
same time frame.
The
researchers further suggested that there might not be enough
infrastructure in place yet to “fully optimize” case management in this
vulnerable population. (The mean age of study participants was 80.3
years.)
Still,
the findings raise a lot of questions, and not just from reporters. In
fact, two physicians from the University of Iowa Carver College of
Medicine provided commentary in the same Annals of Internal Medicine issue.
Wilson
and Cram offer some very good advice: “While awaiting the answers to
these questions, we would advise payers and physicians to move slowly
in implementing telehealth programs on a wide scale.” But I see no good
reason not to try if clinicians or insurers have specific goals in
mind and they figure out what types of patients stand the best chance
of benefiting from home monitoring technology.
e-Behaviorial Health
Benefit from new technologies... enable people to have remote access to CBT
