A pilot project at the Cleveland Clinic has found that patients with chronic diseases manage them more effectively when they use medical devices to submit health information online regularly to physicians, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
The clinic joined with Microsoft to launch the project in 2008 with more than 250 participants. Most of the men and women in the study ranged from 20 to 60 years of age.
Depending on their condition, the participants used heart-rate monitors, glucometers, scales, pedometers and blood-pressure monitors that could be connected to computers and used to submit patient data to a secure Web-based data-storage platform linked to the patients' electronic health records at the clinic.
Physicians and nurses then were able to access and monitor the data and provide feedback.
Findings
According to the project, there were significant changes in the average number of days between visits to doctors' offices for diabetic and hypertensive patients. Both groups increased the number of days between appointments by 71% and 26%, respectively.
Heart failure patients visited their doctors more frequently, as the number of days between visits fell by 27%. However, the decrease is seen as a positive trend because the patients received necessary treatment in a more timely manner because of their uploaded data, the Plain Dealer reports.
Significance, Next Steps
C. Martin Harris, a physician and CIO at the Cleveland Clinic, called the study the first physician-driven pilot project in the U.S. to focus on multiple chronic diseases in a clinical setting. Harris said the next step is to secure funding for a larger scientific study of about 1,500 patients (Theiss, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 3/16).