Results from the MoniC (Model project monitor center) study have shown that web-based Biotronik Home Monitoring improves patient care, is efficient and effective. The results were published in EP Europace by Thomas Vogtmann et al on 9 November 2012.
“Previous studies such as TRUST and COMPAS showed that using automated daily Biotronik Home Monitoring pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients improves patient care,” said Vogtmann, cardiology practice “Am Park Sanssouci”, Potsdam, Germany. “The MoniC study demonstrates that Biotronik Home Monitoringeases the clinical routine associated with patient monitoring.”
The MoniC study, conducted at the Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, addressed the feasibility, safety, workload and clinical usefulness of a centralised Biotronik Home Monitoring model. Consisting of one monitoring centre, the Berlin Charité, and nine satellite clinics in Germany and Austria, 62 Biotronik pacemaker and 59 Biotronik ICDs patients were monitored.
The Biotronik Home Monitoring platform supports close interaction between a nurse with expertise in telemonitoring and the physician. The nurse’s role is to control Biotronik Home Monitoring data flow on a daily basis and filter critical events or unclear interpretations to the physician. This model has gained wide acceptance in a singular high-volume centre environment whereas the MoniC study tested this approach in a multicentre setting.
Results of the study showed that centralised Biotronik Home Monitoring is reliable, beneficial and efficient: basic screening and communication of relevant arrhythmic and technical events required a total of 1.1 minutes of a physician’s time and 30 minutes of a trained nurse’s time each day per 100 patients monitored by the centre.
Supported by reliable automatic data transmission from the implanted devices,satellite clinics rated 73.7% of received basic screening messages as “valuable,” with a reaction rate of 37.4% (phone call to the patient, emergency appointment, hospitalisation) and an impact on treatment in 15.8%. Additionally, 67.4% of extended screening messages were rated as “valuable,” leading to a reaction rate of 27.2% and an impact on treatment in 7.6% of those patients.
The study results also showed this model may help smaller centres fully utilise Home Monitoring technology to improve pacemaker and ICD patient care-despite a limited workforce or low patient numbers.
“MoniC underlines the all-around positive impact Biotronik Home Monitoring has every day in our study clinics,” commented Christoph Böhmer, president International at Biotronik “This trial clearly demonstrates the large potential for efficiency gains and therapy improvements, which are important parameters for health care decision makers. It is a clear win-win for both patients and physicians, no matter what size the clinic.”
