8(th) International conference on management and rehabilitation of chronic respiratory failure: the long summaries – Part 3

Ambrosino, Nicolino; Casaburi, Richard; Chetta, Alfredo; Clini, Enrico; Donner, Claudio F.; Dreher, Michael; Goldstein, Roger; Jubran, Amal; Nici, Linda; Owen, Caroline A.; Rochester, Carolyn; Tobin, Martin J.; Vagheggini, Guido; Vitacca, Michele; ZuWallack, Richard

To evaluate the real cost/effectiveness of a new method such as remote monitoring in this population, it is important to understand what "standard therapy" and "usual therapy" actually refer to in published papers. Often the comparator treatment is quite variable among European countries. "Standard therapy" can be considered to encompass the drug prescription, control by the general practitioner (GP), structured outpatient programs, and pathways of integrated on-demand home visits with dedicated paths in highly disabled patients. Each of these programs may have different indications, applicability and costs, making generalizations from comparison s with a new protocol of remote monitoring problematic. Despite preliminary studies that have shown an advantage in applying telehealth systems, more recent research casts some doubts on their superiority with regard to effectiveness or cost savings.