title: Home monitoring cuts cardiac readmissions.
abstract: A collaboration between Ocean Medical Center and Meridian At Home care agency in Brick, NJ, to provide remote monitoring for heart failure patients has resulted in a drop in readmissions from 14.93% before the program began to 4.84% in the first eight months of the pilot program. Program aims to get patients accustomed to monitoring weight gain and other symptoms. Hospital case managers screen patients for appropriateness for the program. Eligible patients receive a daily automated phone call, answer questions and record their weight on a remote monitoring device connected to the remote monitoring nurse. Nurses work with patients to reinforce hospital teaching and determine the causes of exacerbation.