JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death by disease worldwide and has a high 30-day readmission rate of 22.6%. In 2015, COPD was added to the Medicare Hospital Readmission Reductions Program.

Objective:

The objective of this paper is to survey the current medical technologies for remote patient monitoring (RPM) tools that forecast COPD exacerbations in order to reduce COPD readmissions.

Methods:

A review and comparison of available RPM devices focused on predicting COPD exacerbations according to four criteria: forecasting ability, cost, ease of use, and appearance.

Results:

A list of handheld and handsfree devices was compiled. We compared their features and found substantial variations. The devices that ranked higher on all dimensions tended to have a high or unlisted price.

Conclusions:

Gaps appear to exist between the demand and supply of affordable RPM technologies for managing COPD. Consumers and providers may need better access to product information to make informed decisions.