Policy Paper-Telemonitoring In Patients With CHF Essay Sample

Telemonitoring of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) is an important innovation with a potential of addressing the challenges and costs associated with the management of the CHF condition. To manage the effects of CHF across the affected population, multidisciplinary approaches are used as the best practice guidelines. For instance, multidisciplinary input, telephone support, and clinic visits are used to manage the CHF patients. However, the access to multidisciplinary programs among majority of the CHF patients is limited because of the barriers linked to financial costs and accessibility. As a result, telemonitoring approaches must be developed and used to foster the effective management of CHF patients with the aim of improving their quality of life, while reducing the costs associated with hospitalization.
The need for changing the policy is supported by diverse researches that indicate the high prevalence of CHF in the general population. For instance, more than six million Americans are suffering from CHF, which is considered as a major cause of hospitalization for individuals under the Medicare plan. In addition, the current state of affairs must be changed based on the need to reduce the costs of CHF patients’ hospitalization, which are over $30 billion each year. With the use of appropriate telemonitoring instruments, including computers and telephones, hospitals are able to reduce the costs related to patient follow-ups and hospital readmission (Clarke, Shah, & Sharma, 2011).
The recommended changes include the development of a working strategy that can foster the delivery of the required care services to CHF patients through appropriate telemonitoring approaches. Relevant telemonitoring instruments should be installed in the health care settings to allow nurses, clinicians, and other medical personnel to monitor the progress of patients who have been discharged from hospitals (Polisena, et al., 2010). The remote monitoring of the patients through effective telemonitoring innovations is crucial toward addressing the patients’ conditions in a timely manner, thereby avoiding hospital readmissions.
The strategies necessary toward introducing the policy for review entail holding consultations with relevant stakeholders within the heath care sector to garner their support in relation to the introduction and use of telemonitoring in the management of CHF patients. Based on the appropriate discussions, the policy will be introduced for review with the intention of determining its benefits in reducing costs and improving the CHF patients’ quality of life. The discussions will be held with nurses and clinicians alongside their professional affiliations, and health care institutions, including medical clinics and hospital systems. Additionally, health care policymakers at different levels, including state, federal, and local levels will be consulted. These agencies are selected based on the need to obtain the financial support required for the acquisition of the necessary telemonitoring resources (Anker, Koehler, & Abraham, 2011).
In summary, telemonitoring is an innovation that has a higher potential of improving health care delivery to CHF patients with the aim of eliminating hospital readmissions while minimizing the costs of managing the condition. Health care providers should change the state of affairs by integrating relevant technology instruments, including computers and telephones, to provide remote services to CHF patients. To achieve an effective adoption and implementation of the policy change, relevant stakeholders, including nurses, clinicians, and governmental agencies must be involved in the change process. This involvement of such stakeholders will lead to the successful integration of telemonitoring resources in health care settings, thereby contributing to the effective delivery of care to CHF patients.

References

Anker, S. D., Koehler, F., & Abraham, W. T. (2011). Telemedicine and remote management of patients with heart failure. The Lancet, 378(9792), 731-739.
Antonicelli, R., Mazzanti, I., Abbatecola, A. M., & Parati, G. (2010). Impact of home patient telemonitoring on use of β-blockers in congestive heart failure. Drugs & aging, 27(10), 801-805.
Clarke, M., Shah, A., & Sharma, U. (2011). Systematic review of studies on telemonitoring of patients with congestive heart failure: a meta-analysis. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 17(1), 7-14.
Polisena, J., Tran, K., Cimon, K., Hutton, B., McGill, S., Palmer, K., & Scott, R. E. (2010). Home telemonitoring for congestive heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 16(2), 68-76.