Hoppe published in Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine

Kara Hoppe, DO, MS, of the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, published an article in a recent issue of the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.

In the article “Cost-effectiveness of telehealth with remote patient monitoring for postpartum hypertension”, Hoppe and co-authors (including UW Ob-Gyn residency alum Brenda Niu, MD) evaluate the costs of a remote telehealth blood pressure monitoring program compared to the costs of readmission to the hospital for postpartum hypertension. The study found:

“Telehealth monitoring significantly reduced postpartum readmissions, 3.7% (8/214) versus 0.5% (1/214), and resulted in higher quality-adjusted life years. Telehealth monitoring was cost-effective and cost-saving. Average cost of telehealth per patient was $309, and was cost-effective to a cost of $420 per patient. Telehealth monitoring remained cost-effective down to an admission cost of $10,999 compared to our baseline-estimate for the average admission cost of $14,401. Telehealth monitoring also remained cost-effective when the postpartum readmission rate was 3.0% or higher with standard monitoring. With a cost saving of $93 per patient and an estimated 333,253 pregnant women with hypertension in the US a year, telehealth could reduce health care costs in the US by approximately $31 million a year.”

Read the whole study here.