who the heck has a landline these days

I see everyone asking about what to do to get cheap alternative to landline. really who has them anymore. this is Ludacris. I have not seen anyone with an answer.

7 Comments

I have comcast voice and internet

by kmom - 2014-09-13 02:09:21

When I sent my test transmission when I got the monitoring device ( I have a medtronics MRI compatible) it worked just fine no problems. it said you needed a landline and I have the wall plug type connection with my phone and there wasn't a problem at all. My Pace tech said I might need a filter but when I sent the transmission it came thru perfectly.

Discuss with your doctor

by SaraTB - 2014-09-13 03:09:11

I've posted this on someone else's thread a while back. For most people, the monitoring is purely an ECG. I am paced all the time, so I'd know if anything changed because I feel it.
We'd already cancelled the landline and gone to a VoIP phone, but wanted to get rid of that too, as we're really just using mobiles and FaceTime, so I raised the question with my EP: what is the point of the monitoring?

Based on comments on this site, it appears the USA is the only country where such monitoring is routine for patients without complicated health needs. So I put it to my doctor that it was a waste of time and a waste of money. He agreed that if it was the only reason we were keeping the phone, we could compromise and I'd have three office check-ups a year with no remote monitoring instead of two plus monitoring. I do, sadly, fear that the reason it's so popular in the US is that it's a money-maker. In my case, no doubt my doctor is making up the loss of the fee for reading the monitor reports by adding in the extra office visit :) (Cynical, I know, and I do trust my doctor; I suspect no-one had ever challenged it before so he'd never thought about it, just considered it normal practice)

Seriously, discuss it with your doctor.

I have a land line!

by donr - 2014-09-13 05:09:33

Because I live so far in the boonies that cell service is spotty & VoIP is not as reliable either - if I lose power in a thunderstorm or a bad ice storm.

All of us do not live in the city.

Actually, Sara, the Cardio is NOT checking your PM - he/she is checking your HEART. That PM is far more reliable than the native heart you grew as you developed. It has already proven to be unreliable by failing & requiring the far more reliable PM. So periodically you need to have the weaker link checked out - the heart & you check it through the masterful little monitor it now has called your PM.

Everything is not about making money.

Donr

line

by revelation - 2014-09-13 11:09:14

I live out in the country with the closest town about 20 miles. the only cell phone service that i can use with my device is ATT, but the problem is that there is no tower close enough to me. The only one that's near enough is verizon. I contacted the maker of my PM and they gave me a number out in california to get a box to use with my monitor. That was the only cell service they would use is ATT. So that is why I had to stay with a landline. Mine is paced 100% on bottom and 92% on top so I want to keep mine monitored. I guess that means that our little hole in the road community is behind in time! Thanks for your time.

Landlines??

by Ger - 2014-09-13 12:09:19

WOW !!!!!! I must be living in a prehistoric life as I do not know a single person who does NOT have a landline......

query for Inga

by cabbie - 2014-09-14 02:09:56

Hi Inga. I read your comment above with interest. I had a Biotronik CRT-D implanted in August. At the time I ordered the implant from the local distributor, I didn't know the Cardio messenger home monitoring option was available in the Philippines where I live. I am thinking of ordering one during my next EP visit. I am a Chronic HF patient with NIDCM. Are CHF patients with CRT-Ds on home monitoring in Germany? I used to travel a bit for work but cut back lately. I would have to pay for it out of pocket and it is quite a significant expense. However am inclined to get one as I tend to be on the anxious side and find myself worried whether I will get an inappropriate shock. Any thoughts based on your national guidelines? Thanks!

Remote monitoring

by golden_snitch - 2014-09-14 04:09:43

Hi!

I agree with Sarah, at least with regards to the "normal" single- or dual-chamber pacemaker patient. There is to date no study data published showing any benefits of remote monitoring in these patients. All studies that have shown a benefit looked at ICD and CRT patients, who have heart failure and/or life-threatening arrhythmias. The normal pacemaker patient does not have these issues.

One study on remote monitoring in pacemaker patients was presented at HRS sessions this year, but it remains unclear what the pacemaker patients, who were not monitored, actually died from. The presentation didn't say anything about this. Basically, it just said: Mortality rates in the group not monitored were higher. Study hasn't been published, yet, only presented, so we have to wait for the details until it's published.

I understand that, if you live somewhere on the countryside, far away from the next cardio's office, remote monitoring can be helpful. I recently chatted with a photographer who travels the world, even the Arctic, and for her remote monitoring is a blessing.

In Germany, I do not know a single normal pacemaker patient who is being home monitored; ICD and CRT patients, yes, but no pacemaker patients. At the moment, our national guidelines state that in pacemaker patients remote monitoring should be considered, if a rising threshold, lead issues or atrial tachy-arrhythmias have been documented by the pacemaker at the regular in-office interrogations. Remote monitoring for pacemaker patients is not recommended per se, for everyone, and as far as I know insurance also won't pay for it. If there was a clear benefit for pacemaker patients, this would certainly be different. If many of the normal pacemaker patients would experience lead or threshold issues or atrial tachy-arrhythmias, we'd home monitor for sure, but there is simply no data indicating this. Yes, complications do occur, but not as often that they justify monitoring each and every patient 24/7.

And if it was about diagnosing the onset of atrial fibrillation, you'd basically have to monitor everyone at the age of 70+, pacemaker or not, because that's when Afib occurs for the first time in most patients.

Inga

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