In 2010, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced its “Beacon Communities” program, which funds healthcare IT projects that are aimed at paving the way for health information exchanges.  Seventeen communities have received grants totaling $250m, and one of them, the Central Indiana Beacon Community, used its $1m grant to demonstrate the effectiveness of telemonitoring for congestive heart failure and COPD patients in preventing hospital readmissions.  St. Vincent Health studied 300 patients (CHF, COPD or both) and showed that with frequent video conferences between nurses and patients, the hospital readmission rate was 5%, compared to 20% for the unconnected control group.  In this case, then, the study showed a 75% reduction rate. MORE