A Clinical Trial sponsored by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is currently recruiting participants for the study “Adult Liver Transplant Enhanced Care” (ALTER) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02320422.
This study will pilot test a tailored telemetric intervention to improve adherence to medications for adults who have had a liver transplant. The participants will be recruited among the roster of liver transplant recipients treated at the Recanati-Milller Transplant Institute at Mount Sinai www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/organ-transplants.
The Clinical Trial is going to include 15 non-adherent patients. The telemetric intervention will be administered via telephone or by using interactive video chat applications such as Face Time or Skype. The technology used will enable the intervention team to address non-adherence from a remote location while focusing on psychological avoidance.
Also, Penn’s Innovation Accelerator Program run by the Penn Center for Health Care Innovation, http://healthcareinnovation.upenn.edu is developing new technologies, tools, and platforms capable of integrating care. Last November, five new projects were selected from a pool of 84 proposals.
One of the research projects recently selected involves the use of telehealth to reduce the rate of readmissions in cirrhotic and post liver transplant patients by using telehealth monitoring. The team has developed a wireless mobile device monitoring system using a tablet to help patients to detect early signs and symptoms.
In a pilot program with 21 patients, the system was able to reduce readmission rates from 28 percent to 5.2 percent. With award funding, the team plans to refine the intervention and expand the pilot to all patients.
The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org also helps hepatology and patients receiving liver transplants by using telemedicine services to provide consultation and therapy for patients with end-stage organ disease.
A board-certified team of hepatologists at the D-H Medical Center are working with experts at Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.org on how to use teleconsultations so that patients can connect with specialists worldwide if necessary.