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Congestive heart failure represents an end stage disease process whereby the heart loses its reserve and can no longer function effectively to meet the demands of the body. Direct cost associated with treating this condition are estimated at $23.7 billion, while indirect costs account for an additional $2.1 billion (Skrepnek, Abarca, Malone, Armstrong, Shirazi, & Woosley, 2006). Approximately $5,456 per discharge has been paid to Medicaid beneficiaries in 1999 for CHF (Skrepnek, et al 2005). Heart failure accounts for as much as 1% of all health care costs ( Wagdi and Kaufman, 1993). Therefore, there is obviously a need to curtail costs, associated with this disease.The goal would be to formulate strategies that aim at optimizing the management of CHF. Developing a management program for patients with heart failure could reduce recurrent hospitalizations and health care costs without impairing quality of life (Cline, Israelsson, Willenheimer, Broms and Erhardt, 1998). Providing patient education and establishing home care referrals that incorporate the use of Telenursing, utilizing patient monitoring on prearranged patient encounters, would be beneficial to reducing the occurrences of frequent hospital admissions for CHF clients. |
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