Adults with congenital heart disease have one thing in common: loss to follow up. Across the world, children born with congenital heart diagnoses often stop engaging with the medical system when they graduate from high school. A lack of understanding of the need for lifelong care, no longer having parents insist on appointments, a fear of learning that something new is wrong, and just the business of life: education, work, family are all touted as potential drivers of this precipitous drop-off in cardiac care (https://professional.heart.org/professional/ScienceNews/UCM_464716_Children-with-Congenital-Heart-Disease-Are-Not-Getting-the-Follow-Up-They-Need.jsp).
It is challenging to combat these factors successfully. However, like all consumers, there are mechanisms to re-engage adults with congenital heart disease in cardiac care: convenience and connection. Once I recognized that, the answer was right in front of me: Telemedicine is how I started to bring them back.
