Telemedicine Technology Demonstration Project for Heart Failure

The purpose of this study is to see if telemedicine can help improve the health of patients with heart failure who have recently been hospitalized with heart problems, and are being discharged to a Skilled Nursing Facility. Telemedicine uses electronic communications to make patient/doctor visits possible from a distance. This study will use remote video to allow heart failure specialists at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center to provide clinical health care to patients at Marquis Hills. Electronic monitors (including an electronic scale and blood pressure machine), and phone calls with the Marquis Hill nursing staff will be used to track patients' health status. The nursing staff will provide the heart failure specialists with daily updates on patients' symptoms, weight, vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, pulse), and results of blood tests. Additionally, some patients will be provided with monitoring devices that include an iPhone blood pressure monitor, and Smart Body Analyzer to use for 14 days. The Smart Body Analyzer measures weight, body fat percentage, and heart rate. It also measures indoor air quality. Special software on the iPhone will save this information and the information will be transmitted by secure email to the study doctors. Hypothesis: The patients followed by telemedicine will have fewer visits to the Emergency Department, fewer deaths, and fewer hospital re-admissions than last year's site-specific average for this patient population.