Page 9 Case Studies in Telehealth Adoption Partners Health Care Connecting Heart Failure Patients to Through Monitoring

PArTners heAlThcAre: connecTing heArT FAilure PATienTs To Providers Through remoTe moniToring 9

Exhibit 7. Reducing Hospital Readmissions with the Connected Cardiac Care Program

Program outcomes
ü 51% reduction in heart failure hospital readmissions*

ü 44% reduction in non–heart failure hospital readmissions*
ü Improved patient understanding of heart failure and self-management skills

ü High levels of clinician and patient acceptance and satisfaction

Savings**
A case study prepared by the Center for Connected Health outlines the following cost savings:
Cost of CCCP: $1,500 per patient
Total savings from reduction in hospitalizations: $9,655 per patient
Total net savings: $8,155 per patient
Total savings: $10,316,075 for 1,265 monitored patients since 2006

* N=332 patients
** This program targeted reductions in unplanned heart failure and non–heart failure related admissions. The savings realized factor involves the cost of running the
program, including marketing, referral management, telemonitoring nurse support, and technology.
Source: Center for Connected Health.

Patient Activation and Engagement Are need to be aware that the provider is engaged in order
Critical to Program Success for them to regularly use the technology as a self-man-
With the decision by PCAH to use telehealth to lever- agement tool.
age staff across more patients in response to Medicare
reimbursement changes, CCH became a strategic Automatic Enrollment of Patients
partner to PCAH. CCH and PCAH collaborated in the Improves Clinician Involvement and
design of the technology-enabled clinical program, Satisfaction
the selection of the technology, and the staffing of the As the program was extended beyond home care
operational model. Both parties market and perform throughout the Partners system, pushback came from
outreach of CCCP to patient referral sources. There other sources, primarily primary care physicians and
was a low level of adoption in the initial phase of the cardiologists, such that physician referrals and enroll-
program. Nurses at first saw CCCP as driving a wedge ment into the program were challenged. The program
between them and their patients. They resisted the struggled initially but the key watershed point came
introduction of the program and the replacement of with the decision to change patient enrollment to an
the more traditional high-touch approach to care. An opt-out process. Once a patient is identified for enroll-
important factor in overcoming that initial pushback ment in CCCP, clinicians are responsible for notifying
from staff—and an important lesson for the adoption of CCCP that they do not want the patient in the program.
patient-centered technology in general—is the positive As a result, enrollment has increased, readmission
impact the technology has once it’s placed in patients’ rates have declined, and satisfaction levels among doc-
hands. With CCCP, patients felt more connected and tors have increased as benefits in patient care became
nurses learned to develop relationships with patients evident. The refusal rate to participate among doctors
accordingly with the help of technology. Another went from 10 percent to less than 1 percent.
important insight in terms of adoption is that patients