Care partners boost outcomes for heart failure patients using mHealth intervention

Expanding the reach of mobile health tools to include care partners of patients suffering from chronic heart failure may help to boost adherence to medication and lower shortness of breath instances, according to a new study.

Researchers of the report, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, examined the of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' CarePartner program to see how an mHealth tool that includes a patient's care partner would differ in health outcomes compared to a standard mHealth program.

The rates of completion for IVR were the same for both groups and there were no differences at either six or 12 months in HF quality of life scores, the researchers found. However, the patients whose care partners were involved were 8.8 percent more likely to report taking medication exactly as prescribed and were also less likely to experience shortness of breath, the study's authors found.
 
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