Participation in a non-invasive remote monitoring program (RMP) was associated with lower mortality and fewer heart failure (HF)-related hospitalizations among patients recently hospitalized for HF, according to a prespecified sub-analysis of the TELESAT-HF study. The study was published in European Journal of Heart Failure.

The analysis included patients with at least one HF-related hospitalization during the year before study enrollment. Patients enrolled in the RMP were identified from the French national health database and compared with standard-of-care (SoC) controls. 

The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality, while secondary outcomes included HF-related rehospitalizations, cumulative hospital days, and healthcare costs.
After weighting, approximately 1258 patients managed through RMP and 2321 controls were analyzed. The mean patient age was 73 years, and 33% were women.

Compared with SoC, RMP participation was associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality (23.5% vs 39.6%; hazard ratio [HR] 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47–0.63; p<0.001). Patients in the RMP group also experienced fewer HF-related hospitalizations (rate ratio 0.85; 95% CI 0.78–0.94; p=0.002).

Additional benefits included 32% fewer admissions through emergency departments, a 35% reduction in intensive care unit utilization, and fewer cumulative days spent in hospital, with an estimated absolute reduction of 1.77 days (95% CI −2.81 to −0.72; p<0.001).

Mean healthcare costs did not significantly differ between groups at 6, 12, or 24 months, despite numerically higher costs in the RMP group at later time points. Subgroup analyses showed consistent findings across age, sex, RMP modality, and prior HF hospitalization burden.

The findings suggest that non-invasive RMPs may support post-discharge HF management by reducing mortality and hospitalization burden without substantially increasing overall healthcare costs.