Heart Failure Automated Remote Monitoring System (HF-ARMS)

Leveraging Technology for Effective, Fast, Safe, Low-Cost Heart Failure Monitoring
Heart Failure (HF) is the most expensive and preventable condition, regardless of patient ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, sex, and insurance status. Good outpatient care and telemonitoring can significantly reduce avoidable HF-related hospitalizations and all-cause mortality. Traditional monitoring, while effective, is costly. Heart Failure telemonitoring can be easier, cheaper, and available to a wider patient population.

• HF-ARMS is Effective: 93% of data collected by HF-ARMS is clinically equivalent to human calls.
• HF-ARMS is Safe: The HF-ARMS and humans have the same under-triage rates (3.8% vs. 3.7%)
• HF-ARMS is Low-Cost: 95% average lower cost than traditional nurse calls. Less than 3% of HF-ARMS patients require a follow up call from a provider.
• Patients like the HF-ARMS: 80% of users preferred the HF-ARMS calls to less frequent human monitoring. 72% of users were satisfied or strongly satisfied.

[The HF-ARMS] keeps me trying to be more serious about losing weight and my low salt diet. It’s a good system because it makes me think about not killing my heart. -Male HF-ARMS user, age 47.

How the HF-ARMS Works

The HF-ARMS is a data collection tool that uses automated speech recognition, text messages, email, and web-based communications, to capture patient responses. It negotiates simultaneous outbound and inbound communications to patients on a scheduled and triggered basis. Communication content includes structured scripts and deterministic decision tree logic with clinical decision points that guide patient interviews and the collection of appropriate patient data. Clinical content used in the creation of HF-ARMS are consistent with the most recent American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Heart Failure.

The HF-ARMS…

• Is available in English and Spanish
• Communicates through phone calls, text messages, or email.
• Is customized to the patient’s condition, preferences, and medical home.
• Delivers communication results and alerts in near real-time to providers.

The HF-ARMS reduces the need for HF-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations by providing intense, consistent, patient-centered monitoring for high-risk patients. HF-ARMS monitoring (a) is personalized to the patient’s condition and personal preferences, (b) provides patients and providers with a closer continuity relationship, and (c) facilitates early interventions that can reduce inappropriate use of scarce resources.

Learn More about HF-ARMS-Other Documents Include

• The HF-ARMS Safety Study
• The HF-ARMS Cost Analysis
• The About ARMS Research Poster
• The Patient HF-ARMS Log Book
• The HF-ARMS Enrollment Procedure

Listen and See the HF-ARMS

• A .wav file recording of a person interacting with the system is provided.
• A slide deck includes screenshot examples of the web, mobile web, and review’s dashboard.

Want the HF-ARMS For Your Patients?
Complete the Facility Interest Form and email it to us or contact:

• Project Coordinator: Laura Myerchin Sklaroff, MA Lsklaroff@dhs.lacounty.gov 818–364–3388
• Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Guterman, MD MS jguterman@dhs.lacounty.gov 818–364–3566

The HF-ARMS safety study was generously funded by the California Health Care Foundation. The HF-ARMS expansion project is generously funded by Kaiser Permanente Southern California Community Benefit.