Federal regulators approved Boston Scientific's software upgrades that would enable defibrillators implanted in 150,000 patients to send computerized health data to doctors over the telephone network.The monitoring will eliminate quarterly office visits and allow doctors to remotely confirm that the heart devices' batteries are working. Heart specialists have urged makers of defibrillators, which automatically restart stopped hearts, to expand remote monitoring of the $30,000 devices.
About 10,000 defibrillator patients were enrolled in the wireless monitoring program which began early this year. Computerized data, including weight, blood pressure, device performance, and battery status, are transmitted to doctors by telephone and over the Internet while the patient sleeps near a collection device.
