A telemonitoring programme in patients with heart failure in France: a cost-utility analysis.

BACKGROUND: Certain telemedicine programmes for heart failure (HF) have been shown to reduce all-cause mortality and heart failure-related hospitalisations, but their cost-effectiveness remains controversial. The SCAD programme is a home-based interactive telemonitoring service for HF, which is one of the largest and longest-running telemonitoring programmes for HF in France. The objective of this cost-utility analysis was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the SCAD programme with respect to standard hospital-based care in patients with HF. METHODS: A Markov model simulating hospitalisations and mortality in patients with HF was constructed to estimate outcomes and costs. The model included six distinct health states (three 'not hospitalised' states, two 'hospitalisation for heart failure' states, both depending on the number of previous hospitalisations, and one death state). The model lifetime in the base case was 10 years. Model inputs were based on published literature. Outputs (costs and QALYs) were compared between SCAD participants and standard care. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to assess uncertainty in the input parameters of the model. RESULTS: The number of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) was 3.75 in the standard care setting and 4.41 in the SCAD setting. This corresponds to a gain in QALYs provided by the SCAD programme of 0.65 over the 10 years lifetime of the model. The estimated total cost was €30,932 in the standard care setting and €35,177 in the SCAD setting, with an incremental cost of €4245. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for the SCAD programme over standard care was estimated at €4579/QALY. In the deterministic sensitivity analysis, the variables that had the most impact on the ICER were HF management costs. The likelihood of the SCAD programme being considered cost-effective was 90% at a willingness-to-pay threshold of €11,800. CONCLUSIONS: Enrolment of patients into the SCAD programme is highly cost-effective. Extension of the programme to other hospitals and more patients would have a limited budget impact but provide important clinical benefits. This finding should also be taken into account in new public health policies aimed at encouraging a shift from inpatient to ambulatory care.

Expérimentation de la télé-expertise en cardiologie en Pays de la Loire.

INTRODUCTION: General practitioners regularly need specialized advice for therapeutic adaptation, ECG interpretation or to facilitate referral to the local cardiologist. Tele-expertise could amplify these possibilities of coordination between professionals. An experiment in tele-expertise in cardiology was carried out by the URML in Pays de la Loire between 2016 and 2017. This experiment allowed GPs to seek the advice of a liberal cardiologist via a link card. The cardiologist received the card, accompanied by the ECG and responded within 48 hours. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to study the acceptability of the experiment and to study the impact on the coordination of health care professionals and on delays. METHOD: This evaluation required a mixed methodology with a before/after the experiment survey, semi-directive interviews with GP and cardiologists, ad hoc data collection and data from national health insurance claim database. RESULTS: In 15 months of experimentation, 22% of GPs and 52% of liberal cardiologists of the territory participated. 959 reviews were requested by the GPs or 74 cards per month. The cardiologists were solicited 2.3 times a month. The cardiologist rated the ECG abnormal or doubtful for 31.9% of exams. An appointment was scheduled on average within 24 days. Few difficulties in using the service have been reported by users. DISCUSSION: The results show that tele-expertise without any complex computer tools to work, helps to improve the organization of the gradation of the response of the specialized offer, to improve the confidence of GPs in their own ECG analysis. It constitutes a full-scale observatory of the implementation of tele-expertise in cardiology, upstream of its generalization announced for 2020 in France.

[Experience of tele-expertise in cardiology in Pays de la Loire]. / Expérimentation de la télé-expertise en cardiologie en Pays de la Loire.

INTRODUCTION: General practitioners regularly need specialized advice for therapeutic adaptation, ECG interpretation or to facilitate referral to the local cardiologist. Tele-expertise could amplify these possibilities of coordination between professionals. An experiment in tele-expertise in cardiology was carried out by the URML in Pays de la Loire between 2016 and 2017. This experiment allowed GPs to seek the advice of a liberal cardiologist via a link card. The cardiologist received the card, accompanied by the ECG and responded within 48 hours. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to study the acceptability of the experiment and to study the impact on the coordination of health care professionals and on delays. METHOD: This evaluation required a mixed methodology with a before/after the experiment survey, semi-directive interviews with GP and cardiologists, ad hoc data collection and data from national health insurance claim database. RESULTS: In 15 months of experimentation, 22% of GPs and 52% of liberal cardiologists of the territory participated. 959 reviews were requested by the GPs or 74 cards per month. The cardiologists were solicited 2.3 times a month. The cardiologist rated the ECG abnormal or doubtful for 31.9% of exams. An appointment was scheduled on average within 24 days. Few difficulties in using the service have been reported by users. DISCUSSION: The results show that tele-expertise without any complex computer tools to work, helps to improve the organization of the gradation of the response of the specialized offer, to improve the confidence of GPs in their own ECG analysis. It constitutes a full-scale observatory of the implementation of tele-expertise in cardiology, upstream of its generalization announced for 2020 in France.

«Bouge ta santé à Clichy-sous-Bois¼: Cross-sectoral Approach to Physical Activity / « Bouge ta santé à Clichy-sous-Bois ¼ : une approche intersectorielle de l'activité physique.

Introduction: Based on the ICAPS approach, funded by the Regional Health Agency of Île-de-France and the Mutualité Française Île-de-France, a programme to promote the health benefits of physical activity has been conducted since 2012 in Clichy-sous-Bois, a town with major health inequalities. The objective was to implement intersectoral local projects designed to encourage physical activity among young people.Method: An initial assessment identified the lack of collaboration between sport, social, education and health stakeholders. Seven priority work areas were highlighted: creation of municipal synergy, training of local actors in the implementation of "Physical Activity and Health" joint projects, creation of local courses to identify / inform / advise and guide residents towards adapted physical activities, implementation of programmes combining physical activity and a balanced diet in primary and secondary schools, community centres and municipal school sports.Results: Regular meetings between local partners/actors facilitate the implementation of many projects that meet the expectations/needs of residents and professionals. For example, in a community centre, women and children learned to ride a bike, mediators passed a diploma to supervise groups, outings were organized and the planning authority/department decided to study the feasibility of building cycle paths.Conclusion: The sharing of ideas and local resources constitutes a lever to encourage physical activity and reduces social inequalities in health. A partnership culture between sport, social, education and health structures must be developed in order to integrate physical activity as one of the Local Health Contract's priorities.

[Medication administration practices in elderly residential facilities in Ile de France Region in 2014: findings and room for improvement]. / Prise en charge médicamenteuse en établissements d’hébergement pour personnes âgées dépendantes en Île-de-France en 2014 : état des lieux et axes d’amélioration.

The institutions expressed great interest in medication administration systems and tools designed to monitor all stages of medication administration. A dozen simple and pragmatic improvement actions were identified and listed in the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency action plan to improve medication administration management of in EHPAD..

Impact of patient engagement in a French telemonitoring programme for heart failure on hospitalization and mortality.

AIMS: Management of patients with recently decompensated heart failure by hospital services is expensive, complicated to plan, and not always effective. Telemedicine programmes in heart failure may improve the quality of care, but their effectiveness is poorly documented in real-world settings. The study aims to evaluate the impact of patient engagement in home-based telemonitoring for heart failure (SCAD programme) on rehospitalization and mortality rates. METHODS AND RESULTS: A retrospective observational study was performed in 659 SCAD participants. SCAD is a patient-oriented service of home-based interactive telemonitoring offered to heart failure patients during hospitalization who agree to participate in a therapeutic education programme. Patients were telemonitored for at least 3 months, and rehospitalization and mortality were documented at 12 months and 5 years. During the telemonitoring period, patients provided daily information on health and lifestyle through an internet-based interface. Data were linked on a patient-by-patient basis between the SCAD database and the French national health insurance database (Système National des Données de Santé). Outcomes were compared as a function of use of the programme. Low, intermediate, and high users were classified by tercile of data return during telemonitoring. Patients were followed for a median of 32.9 months. Rehospitalization rates for cardiovascular disease decreased from 79.4% in the year preceding enrolment to 41.1% in the following year and from 52.8% to 18.8% for hospitalizations for heart failure. The 12 month mortality rate was 11.2%. Significant associations were observed between level of use of the SCAD programme and all-cause rehospitalization (P = 0.0085), rehospitalization for cardiovascular disease (P = 0.0010), rehospitalization for heart failure (27.8% in low users, 12.9% in intermediate users, and 13.5% in high users; P < 0.0001), and mortality (26.8%, 15.2%, and 15.9% respectively; P = 0.0157) in the 12 months following enrolment. The mean number of days alive outside hospital were 279 ± 111 in low users, 312 ± 90 in intermediate users, and 304 ± 100 in high users (P = 0.0022). CONCLUSIONS: Educational home telemonitoring of patients with heart failure following hospitalization provides long-term clinical benefits in terms of rehospitalization and death in real-world settings, according to the level of use of the programme by the patient. These benefits would be expected to have a major impact on the burden of this disease. Low engagement in telemonitoring could be used as a signal of poor prognosis and taken into account in the management strategy.