Mobile electrocardiogram (mECG) devices are being used increasingly, supplying recordings
to providers and providing automatic rhythm interpretation. Given the intermittent
nature of certain cardiac arrhythmias, mECGs allow instant access to a recording device.
In the current COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to limit in-person patient interactions
and avoid overwhelming emergency and inpatient services would add value. Our goal
was to evaluate whether a mECG device would reduce healthcare utilization overall,
particularly those of urgent nature. We identified a cohort of KardiaMobile (AliveCor, USA) mECG users and compared their healthcare utilization 1 year prior
to obtaining the device and 1 year after. One hundred and twenty-eight patients were
studied (mean age 64, 47% female). Mean duration of follow-up pre-intervention was
9.8 months. One hundred and twenty-three of 128 individuals completed post-intervention
follow-up. Patients were less likely to have cardiac monitors ordered (30 vs 6; p
<0.01), outpatient office visits (525 vs 382; p <0.01), cardiac-specific ED visits
(51 vs 30; p <0.01), arrhythmia related ED visits (45 vs 20; p <0.01), and unplanned
arrhythmia admissions (34 vs 11; p <0.01) in the year after obtaining a KardiaMobile device compared to the year prior to obtaining the device. Mobile technology is available
for heart rhythm monitoring and can give feedback to the user. This study showed a
reduction of in-person, healthcare utilization with mECG device use. In conclusion,
this strategy would be expected to decrease the risk of exposure to patients and providers
and would avoid overwhelming emergency and inpatient services.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 03, 2021
Received in revised form:
May 8,
2021
Received:
February 18,
2021
Footnotes
No funding was provided for this study.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
