Telemonitoring in COVID-19 (Telemon Covid)

Ongoing study - The RIZIV recently launched a pilot project in which healthcare providers can follow up COVID-19 patients at home via telemonitoring. The target group in this project are patients with a positive COVID-19 test and mild symptoms and/or risk factors, who register at the emergency department or through their GP. On the other hand, COVID-19 hospitalized patients can also be included in the intervention upon discharge from hospital, and further followed up in the home situation.

The aim of these interventions is to reduce the workload on healthcare staff in hospitals and general practitioners, by safeguarding hospital beds (avoiding hospitalizations and shortening length of stay), and providing better support through technological solutions. Using digital applications and telemetry, a number of vital parameters are measured and symptoms are systematically queried and digitally forwarded in real-time to a platform where a professional (medical) team monitors this information. A collaboration is set up between different actors such as the general practitioner, the home nurse, the hospital, the specialists, the (medical) telemonitoring team, the technical team, and the patient (and caregiver).

The RIZIV asked the KCE to find out what the interventions offered by the various consortia of care providers look like, and which patients are included in these projects. A large part of the research will focus on how these actors experienced the intervention, what went well, what went less well, and especially how this telemonitoring intervention (with its possibilities and limitations) could later be implemented in other target groups.