Does Home Telemonitoring after Pulmonary Rehabilitation Reduce Healthcare Use in Optimized COPD? A Pilot Randomized Trial

Aim. To see if home telemonitors reduce healthcare use in those with optimized chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods. We randomized 40 stable patients with moderate to severe COPD, who had completed at least 12 sessions of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), to receive standard care (Controls) for 52 weeks or standard care plus Docobo HealthHUB monitors at home for 26 weeks followed by 26 weeks standard care (Tm Group). During the monitoring period, the Tm Group completed symptoms and physical observations twice daily which were stored and then uploaded at 2 am through a freephone landline. Nurses could access the data through a secure web site and received alerting e-mails if certain combinations of data occurred. Results. There were fewer primary care contacts for chest problems (p < 0.03) in the Tm group, but no differences between the groups in emergency room visits, hospital admissions, days in hospital or contacts to the specialist COPD community nurse team, during the monitoring period. After the monitors were removed, there were no differences between the groups for any of the health care contacts (p > 0.20 throughout). Conclusion. In stable, optimized COPD patients who have already completed PR, telemonitoring in addition to best care, reduces primary care chest contacts but not hospital or specialist team utilization.