Salzburg offers home monitoring for heart failure patients

People with heart failure can receive digital monitoring at home after leaving hospital under a Salzburg programme that ORF describes as unique in Austria. The Kardiomobil PLUS service is funded by the Salzburg Health Fund.

Patients take part for three months, recording their blood pressure, pulse, weight and medication use each day and sending the readings to the programme team. Alerts flag changes, such as a gradual increase in weight, so staff can contact patients and take action.

The programme aims to help patients manage their condition and identify early signs of deterioration. Its founder and director, Johann Altenberger, said it could reduce deaths and cut hospital readmissions by almost half, while improving patients’ quality of life.

One participant is Karl Leitner, a 66-year-old from Hallwang who had a heart attack 13 years ago and was hospitalised again last year. As a high-risk patient, he was enrolled in the programme. He said the support made him feel safer during the first months after his hospital stay.

The service is currently available only to patients in Salzburg after a hospital stay, and participation is free. Heart failure, also known as cardiac insufficiency, limits the heart’s ability to supply the body with enough blood and oxygen. Heart and circulatory diseases remain Austria’s leading cause of death, ORF reported.