Fig. 1

Individual and institutional communication in the B2C model for telemonitoring patients with chronic heart failure. Telenurse occupies the central role in the B2C telemonitoring model, and coordinates the care between the physician, pharmacist, patient, and informal caregiver, from the telemonitoring centre. The flow of voice communication (red line), data (blue line), reimbursement (green line), and drugs (orange line) can be unidirectional or bidirectional. It is represented by arrows between the agents or their respective institutions. The B2C telemonitoring decouples the patient and the informal caregiver from receiving care in the home. The payer in the B2C model is the patient, thus the government plays a role of the regulator only