Long-term impact of a six-month telemedical care programme on mortality, heart failure readmissions and healthcare costs in patients with chronic heart failure:

AimsThe TElemonitoring in the MAnagement of Heart Failure (TEMA-HF) 1 long-term follow-up study assessed whether an initial six-month telemonitoring (TM) programme compared with usual care (UC) would result in reduced all-cause mortality, heart failure admissions and healthcare costs in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients at long-term follow-up.MethodsOf the 160 patients included in the multi-centre, randomised controlled telemonitoring trial (TEMA-HF 1, time point t0); 142 CHF patients (65% male; age: 76 ± 10 years; EF: 36 ± 15%) were alive and entered the follow-up study (time point: t1) with a final evaluation at 79 months (time point: t2). Both TM and UC group patients received standard heart failure care during the follow-up study (time points: t1 –t2). The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included days lost due to heart failure readmissions and readmission/patient follow-up related healthcare costs.ResultsCompared with usual care, the initial six-month TM programme had n...