OBJECTIVES: eHealth is the transfer of health resources, care, and data by electronic means and has the potential to promote reductions in the cost of care.  It has been employed by medical professionals to manage chronic diseases outside of a clinical setting, provide useful data for decision making, and deliver timely information and care to the patient.  This review assesses the use of eHealth programs in chronic disease management and identifies the settings and patient populations that have resulted in successful outcomes.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted in Embase, Medline, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Inclusion criteria were English language studies since 2005 evaluating the efficacy of an eHealth program on patients with chronic disease(s).  Studies in which e-mail communication was the only eHealth component were excluded.  Two authors independently screened all studies.  The quality of each study was also assessed. 

RESULTS: eHealth is a rapidly growing intervention:  40%, 16%, and 5% of studies included were published in 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.  Of the included studies, a variety of diseases were represented, with most studies focusing on cardiac disease, depression, diabetes, and respiratory diseases.  25% of the studies targeted chronic disease in general.  A majority of studies explored eHealth in monitoring and maintenance of chronic disease.  Outcomes to assess program efficacy were often measured using changes in disease specific outcomes, while few studies provided economic outcomes.  Long term outcomes were not commonly assessed but implied through surrogate outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:  Current evidence suggests that eHealth has the potential to help patients and medical professionals better control chronic disease related events and decrease rising healthcare costs. However, measurement of long term event avoidance and patient quality of life is needed to develop meaningful and effective programs and to allocate eHealth appropriately.