Feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a multidisciplinary home-telehealth intervention programme to reduce falls among elderly discharged from hospital: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Fall incidents are the third cause of chronic disablement in elderly according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Recent meta-analyses shows that a multifactorial falls risk assessment and management programmes are effective in all older population studied. However, the application of these programmes may not be the same in all National health care setting and, consequently, needs to be evaluated by cost-effectiveness studies before to plan this intervention in regular care. In Italy structured collaboration between hospital staff and primary care is generally lacking and the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a fall prevention programme at home has never been explored.