Rising trends in population aging and an increasing burden of chronic disease create complex challenges for the supply and demand of health care services, especially for the elderly population.

Current medical resources are incapable of meeting the growing demands of an aging population; consequently, health systems are reorganizing approaches of health care delivery.

In recent years, the use of information and communication technologies through telehealth has been identified as the key link to remote health care delivery.

In Canada and the US, home telemonitoring is one of the key telehealth applications.

Home telemonitoring encompasses the use of audio, video, and other telecommunication technologies to monitor patient status at a distance.

There are numerous examples of medical conditions for which doctors are using devices to improve patient care. The list includes patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, asthma, and chronic obstructive lung disease or emphysema.

Telemonitoring devices transmit physiological, biological, and behavioral data from patients to health care professionals for the purposes of patient monitoring, data interpretation and clinical decision making.

Home telemonitoring is becoming increasingly popular, but is it a favourable alternative mode of health care provision for elderly patients?

With the constant increase in health care costs, health care organizations are confronted with treating a rising number of patients in a cost effective manner.

Consequently, care organizations are shifting patient care to ambulatory settings to reduce congestion in emergency rooms and hospital wards.

Yet, only a handful of trials have reported rigorous cost-benefit analyses of home telemonitoring programs and thus, the economic viability of this alternative practice remains to be demonstrated.

Although, home telemonitoring shows potential to reduce mortality from chronic illnesses in older patients, there are contradictory reports to substantiate its clinical value, and limited economic impact data to support its use.  

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