Remote Perioperative Monitoring in Adult Cardiac Surgery: The Impact on 1000 Consecutive Patients

Background

Our remote patient monitoring (RPM) program for adult cardiac surgery patients aims to remove barriers to access, provide continuity of expert care, and increase their time-at-home. The RPM program integrates novel biosensors, an application for audiovisual visits, messaging, biometric data tracking, patient-reported outcomes, and scheduling with the aim of reducing postoperative length of stay and 30-day readmissions, while simultaneously increasing the rate of patients discharged to home.

Methods

Our institutional database was utilized for this retrospective review of 1000 consecutive RPM patients who underwent coronary artery bypass, valve, and coronary artery bypass + valve, at 3 hospitals from July 2019 through April 2023. The study cohort was compared with 1000 propensity-matched controls from the same three hospitals (1:1, nearest neighbor matching where propensity scores were generated with RPM as the outcome measure). Patient characteristics, procedures, and outcomes are defined as per The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Database.

Results

RPM patients experienced statistically significant shorter median postoperative length of stay (1 day less, a 16.7% relative difference; P < .0001) and a 33% relative reduction in 30-day readmission (7.0 ± 0.8 vs 4.7 ± 0.7, P = .027), while 5.6% more patients were discharged to home (97.8% vs 92.2%, P < .0001) when compared with the non-RPM cohort.

Conclusions

Patient engagement and management with a RPM platform are feasible and associated with significantly shorter postoperative length of stay, fewer 30-day readmissions, and an increased rate of discharge to home.