Title: Assessment of a telemedicine innovation in cardiology

Authors: Cristina Masella, Paolo Zanaboni

Addresses: Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy. ' Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy

Abstract: Recently, in all of the national health systems, the need to keep health costs under control and to assure high-quality standards shifted the attention from hospitals to primary cares, territorial structures and patient homes. In this context, telemedicine represents a strong feature to satisfy the need for new clinical management approaches allowing patients with chronic diseases to effectively receive care in a home setting. The application of new telemedicine services always requires an assessment that considers, on the one hand, the responsibility of healthcare manufacturers in supplying high-quality and user-friendly technologies, and, on the other hand, the responsibility of healthcare organisations in providing cost-effective telemedicine services. In this context, this work aims at assessing the adoption of a remote monitoring service for follow-up examinations of chronic heart failure patients implanted with biventricular implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The assessment is conducted through a complete framework that explores the clinical utility, the technical feasibility, the economic implications and the customer satisfaction.

Keywords: assessment; cardiology; chronic heart failure; telemedicine innovation; telemonitoring; clinical management; chronic diseases; home care; healthcare technology; biventricular ICD; implantable cardioverter defibrillators; remote monitoring; clinical utility; technical feasibility; economic implications; customer satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2009.030454

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2009 Vol.10 No.4/5, pp.325 - 339

Published online: 16 Dec 2009 *

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