Telehealth Self-Management Program in Older Adults Living With Heart Failure in Health Disparity Communities

Disparities in cardiovascular disease have received particular focus, as cardiovascular disease is a major contributor to differences in morbidity and mortality between blacks and whites. African Americans, for example, are hospitalized for chronic heart failure (CHF) at a higher rate than whites and are 30% more likely to die from CHF than white individuals. Community-dwelling patients with CHF typically receive exacerbation-focused care, leading to high rates of emergency department (ED) and hospital utilization. The lack of comprehensive chronic disease management leads to poor patient outcomes, and increased health care costs. Given the larger burden of CHF and the unfavorable disease outcomes in disparity communities, a tailored and more focused management of this clinical condition is warranted.

We propose to:

1. Assess telehealth self management (TSM) usability, utilizing a mixed-methods approach, focusing on patient and stakeholder input, with the goal of adapting the intervention to facilitate acceptability and feasibility in a population of low-income ethnic minority patients. Prior to intervention implementation, we will determine characteristics of the intervention requiring adaptation to maximize usability through focus groups, with key community stakeholders, patients and caregivers. We will continue the qualitative usability assessment during the intervention with patients enrolled in the study to identify barriers/challenges to usability, to further adapt the intervention. Finally, we will use quantitative methods to assess usability. These quantitative indicators will also be used to make adjustments and inform future wide-scale interventions that will be conducted in this community.
2. Compare hospital utilization of low income ethnic minority patients receiving telehealth technology vs. demographically matched patients receiving standard of care. A randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted to test the primary hypothesis that health care utilization will be lower in the in the TSM group than the usual-care group. We will specifically compare acute care and ED utilization and quality of life (Minnesota QoL Questionnaire) between groups. We will adjust for potential confounders (demographic, clinical, educational and functional/support variables). The target population is community-dwelling CHF patients discharged home from the Nassau University Medical Center.

This research will further our understanding of the use of TSM in the management of CHF for low income, ethnic minority seniors. The proposed research will improve patient outcomes while reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and ED burden. Chronic disease self-management programs have the potential to reduce health care costs while improving patient health status, particularly for medically underserved communities.