Ochsner Cancer Institute

Ochsner Health, Ochsner Cancer Institute
New Orleans, LA

Chemotherapy Care Companion: A Remote Patient Monitoring Program

Zoe Larned, MD, System Chair of Hematology & Oncology, Ochsner Health, Ochsner Cancer Institute

Upon receipt of a completed Chemotherapy Care Companion consent questionnaire sent via an online patient portal app, patients receive an iHealth digital scale, blood pressure cuff, and ear thermometer free of charge and are assigned a series of daily tasks with automatic push notification reminders for completion in their patient portal app, including daily symptom survey, weight entry, temperature entry, AM/PM blood pressure, and heart rate reading. Vital signs are uploaded automatically from the integrated Bluetooth devices to the patient portal and into the EHR. From January 2020 through December 2021, 284 enrollments occurred with 50% being Stage 4 patients. Ages ranged from 23 to 86 years old with a compliance rate of 67%, which indicated that patients successfully completed more than 50% of their daily vitals and questionnaire tasks. Preliminary data shows that Chemotherapy Care Companion reduced the total number of ED visits and admissions by 33%.