First Patient Monitoring Roundtable of 2023: Telecardiology

In the first Roundtable of the year (23/02/2023), Prof. Dr. Friedrich Köhler – head of the Center for Cardiovascular Telemedicine at Charité – held a keynote on the topic of telemedicine in the treatment of heart failure. And here is what we learned from him:

1. There are many different types of monitoring technologies in the field of telemedicine in heart failure:
   – Non-invasive measuring devices (e.g., pulsoximeter)
   – Active implants
   – Passive implants (e.g., measuring pulmonary pressure)
   – Wearables & Smartphones

2. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) does not only consist of telemonitoring, but also includes training, care assessment, patients’ self-management at home, and guideline-based therapy.

3. Telemedicine in heart failure is a life-prolonging form of (co-)care.

4. The Federal Joint Committee’s (G-BA) decision of December 17, 2020 is a milestone of digital medicine in Germany: RPM for heart failure can thus be considered an example of evidence-based medicine.

5. AI is about to be introduced in clinical cardiology (analysis and prioritization of monitoring data, decompensation diagnosis supported by voice analysis).

6. Further research is needed for telemedicine in heart failure.

Telemedical care concept in TIM-HF2 (Fontane)

(Copyright: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin)

The roundtable ended with an insightful discussion in the form of a Q&A session, in which Prof. Köhler answered all the questions raised by the numerous clinicians and industry representatives. 

With this successful start into 2023, we would like to set focus on telemonitoring strategies in the different fields of medical care and hope you will accompany us on this journey! We would like to thank all participants of the roundtable for their engagement, the captivating discussion and we’re already looking forward to the next Roundtable event!

The Patient Monitoring Roundtable is organized by INCH e.V. (Initiative for Collaboration and Innovation in Healthcare e.V.) in cooperation with the Institute for Medical Informatics at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Hacking Health Berlin.