Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Key Messages
- There is strong evidence that home telehealth is significantly more effective than usual care in reducing exacerbations, and some evidence that it can improve daily symptoms.
- Patient satisfaction with home telehealth tends to be high.
- Little research has been done on provider views. One study reported strongly negative perceptions of videoconferencing-based case management, suggesting that this gap should be filled prior to large-scale implementation of home telehealth.
- Home telehealth appears effective in reducing service use. Several studies found significantly reduced hospitalizations among COPD patients using home telehealth. There are also indications that home telehealth can reduce primary care use that is prompted by urgent symptoms (e.g., unscheduled clinic visits and urgent calls to general practitioners).
- Cost savings from reduced hospitalizations are not always significant. In the short-term, they may be offset by high implementation costs.
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