Improving strategies for managing patients with pacemakers
August 16, 2024 – A large new study aims to reduce the time, cost, and complexity involved with managing patients who have pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).
The study will be led by a research team based at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in close partnership with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s CAUSALab. Issa Dahabreh, associate professor of epidemiology, CAUSALab member, and section head of epidemiology and data science at the Smith Center, will direct the analytic center for the study.
In an August 13 press release, BIDMC announced that the research has been approved for $30 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Currently, patients with cardiac devices have annual in-person evaluations of their devices. They are monitored via wireless remote transmissions from their devices, which include frequent scheduled transmissions, patient-initiated transmissions, and alert transmissions that are sent automatically—an enormous amount of information. While the current strategy works well, it can be burdensome for patients and clinicians. The study will explore whether a fully remote monitoring strategy, focused on automatic alerts, could be just as safe while easing the burdens.
Read the BIDMC press release: BIDMC’s Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research Awarded $30 Million by PCORI for Large Study on Cardiac Implantable Electrical Devices
