Telehealth education to support COPD patients after hospital discharge

TELE-TOC: Telehealth Education Leveraging Electronic Transitions Of Care for COPD Patients - Resubmission - 1

NIH-funded research University of Chicago · NIH-11169843

This project uses virtual home visits and telehealth teaching to help people with COPD manage medications and follow-up care after leaving the hospital.

Quick facts

Grant typeR01 grant
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionUniversity of Chicago NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Chicago, United States)
Project IDNIH-11169843 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

As a patient with COPD, this project would replace some in-person home visits with scheduled telehealth check-ins after I leave the hospital, led by transitional care clinicians. These virtual visits would cover medication review, inhaler technique teaching, care coordination, and support arranging follow-up appointments. The team will use electronic health records and remote communication tools to monitor my progress and catch problems early. The approach aims to be more scalable and sustainable than traditional in-home visits while reducing missed follow-ups and medication errors.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with COPD who have been recently discharged from the hospital and who have a history of frequent hospital visits or difficulty managing inhaler therapy.

Not a fit: Patients without access to a video-capable device or internet, those discharged for non-COPD reasons, or those who require intensive in-person home services may not benefit from this telehealth approach.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this could reduce preventable ER visits and readmissions and improve inhaler use and follow-up care for people with COPD.

How similar studies have performed: Transitional Care Models have reduced readmissions in prior studies, and early telehealth-based post-discharge programs show promise but are less well tested specifically for COPD.

Where this research is happening

Chicago, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.