Evaluating the effectiveness of an aggressive case management and home telehealth monitoring program for long-term control of A1C.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and assess the effectiveness of a case management and home telemonitoring program for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) PRIMARY PRACTICE SETTING: Case managers work in a mid-sized medical center for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Patients are veterans who participate in a home telemonitoring and case management program designed to assist with long-term control of serum glucose levels.


CONCLUSIONS
The home telemonitoring/case management program process is shown to be effective in helping patients with long-term control of glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C). When compared with a control group, program participants showed significantly differentiated long-term improvement in A1C levels.


CONCLUSIONS
• Home telemonitoring and aggressive case management together are effective in helping patients with diabetes self-care. • Case management practices for patients with diabetes should include a strong educational component, continuing throughout the process, that addresses lifestyle and dietary changes. • Home telemonitoring may serve as a patient "demand" indicator and workload regulator for case managers. • Case management and home telemonitoring have long-term effects in diabetes self-care even after active case management and home telemonitoring come to an end.
Veterans Health Administration, Office of Rural Health, Veterans Rural Health Resource Center-Central Region, USA. thomas.klobucar@va.gov
Thomas F
TF
Klobucar
Robin
R
Hibbs
Peg
P
Jans
Margaret R
MR
Adams
D001786:Blood Glucose; D019090:Case Management; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D014728:Veterans
D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin