Tele-HF
Overview
Conducted from 2006 to 2010, Tele-HF is the largest randomized controlled trial to study the effectiveness of telemonitoring on heart failure outcomes. We enrolled 1660 Heart Failure (HF) patients from 33 clinical sites into this 4-year multicenter study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Each enrolled patient was randomly assigned to 1 of 2 study arms: usual care or telemonitoring plus usual care. Randomization was stratified by clinical practice.
Patients in the telemonitoring arm received daily telemonitoring for 6 months. Telemonitoring consists of patients calling a toll-free number to report their daily weight and answer a pre-programmed series of questions. The system automatically uploaded participants’ responses to a secure data center. A clinician in each clinical site then reviewed responses by accessing a secure Internet site.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, this negative study received international attention. We are currently conducting ongoing analyses.