Remote patient management (RPM) promises to improve patient care. Previously, Friedrich Koehler and colleagues showed a significant benefit of RPM in patients with heart failure compared with usual care over a 12-month study period. Patients assigned to remote patient management lost a mean of 17·8 days (95% CI 16·6–19·1) per year due to unplanned cardiovascular hospitalisations and all-cause mortality compared with patients assigned to usual care who lost a mean of 24·2 days (22·6–26·0) per year. The authors now present the results of the extended 12-month follow-up period after stopping the RPM intervention. During this interval, there was no difference between RPM and usual care in the primary outcome, or recurrent heart failure hospitalisations and cardiovascular death. The authors concluded that the positive effect of RPM was lost when it was terminated, raising questions about the ideal duration of RPM for the patient group studied.

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