Effectiveness of Telemedicine Visits in Reducing 30-Day Readmissions Among Patients With Heart Failure During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid implementation of telemedicine into clinical practice. This study examined whether early outpatient follow-up via telemedicine is as effective as in-person visits for reducing 30-day readmissions in patients with heart failure. Methods and Results Using electronic health records from a large health system, we included patients with heart failure living in North Carolina (N=6918) who were hospitalized between March 16, 2020 and March 14, 2021. All-cause readmission within 30 days after discharge was examined using weighted logistic regression models. Overall, 7.6% (N=526) of patients received early telemedicine follow-up, 38.8% (N=2681) received early in-person follow-up, and 53.6% (N=3711) did not receive follow-up within 14 days of discharge. Compared with patients without early follow-up, those who received early follow-up were younger, were more likely to be Medicare beneficiaries, had more comorbidities, and were less likely to live in an disadvantaged neighborhood. Relative to in-person visits, those with telemedicine follow-up were of similar age, sex, and race but with generally fewer comorbidities. Overall, the 30-day readmission rate (19.0%) varied among patients who received telemedicine visits (15.0%), in-person visits (14.0%), or no follow-up (23.1%). After covariate adjustment, patients who received either telemedicine (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44-0.72) or in-person (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.45-0.60) visits were similarly less likely to be readmitted within 30 days compared with patients with no follow-up. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine visits for early follow-up increased rapidly. Patients with heart failure who received outpatient follow-up either via telemedicine or in-person had better outcomes than those who received no follow-up.

Efficacy of Hypertension Self-Management Classes Among Patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center.

Structural racism has contributed to persistent racial disparities in hypertension control, with Black men suffering the highest prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension. Lincoln Community Health Center, our urban Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), aimed to use hypertension self-management classes to improve hypertension control among our clinic patients, particularly Black men. Patients attending classes learned about hypertension, were given blood pressure cuffs to use at home, and had the opportunity to speak to physicians in a group setting. We used a nonexperimental quality improvement intervention design to identify baseline differences between participants who attended multiple classes and those who attended only 1 class. Participants who attended multiple classes, most of whom were Black men, achieved an average blood pressure reduction of 19.1/14.8 mm Hg. Although the classes were effective, current policies around health insurance reimbursement and federal quality reporting standards hamper the ability of health care providers to implement such patient education initiatives.