Before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote patient monitoring (RPM) was gaining popularity as a telehealth solution.
RPM equips chronic disease patients with technology that helps them manage their condition and improve outcomes.
It also gives healthcare organizations a new revenue stream and helps ease clinician burden during the ongoing nursing shortage.
What is RPM?
Remote patient monitoring RPM is a digital health approach that uses connected medical devices to track and transmit a patient’s data. The devices could include glucose meters for patients with diabetes or heart rate monitors that alert staff to changes in a patient’s condition.
The device gathers and transmits a patient’s data to a healthcare provider through an encrypted digital platform. Physicians can then analyze and interpret the data to detect trends or potential issues with a patient’s health.
The data can also inform a care plan for the patient and help them follow a treatment regimen. Because the device gathers daily data, it provides physicians with consistent measurements of their patient’s health and conditions rather than the snapshot they get during intermittent visits to a doctor’s office or clinic. This helps them better address issues and promotes engagement in a patient’s care. RPM is often a core component of hospital-at-home programs that provide care for at-risk patients after discharge.
Why is RPM important?
When RPM technology can be incorporated into patients’ everyday lives, they can be more active participants in their healthcare. This allows them to share the data with their providers and will enable them to get more personalized care.
The devices used for RPM can range in complexity and functionality, but they all need to be simple to use and collect long-term data. He says the device must also interface with the patient’s digital platform.
For patients, the benefits of remote patient monitoring software include increased access to healthcare, improved health outcomes and lower costs. In addition, the constant monitoring of their health status can give patients a sense of security and help them live better lives. For healthcare facilities, the benefits of RPM include better data analytics, fewer hospital admissions and reduced readmissions. They can also save on transportation and doctor’s fees by allowing patients to monitor their condition remotely.
What are the benefits of RPM?
RPM allows patients to monitor their physiology, whether blood sugar levels or heart rate. It helps them keep track of their progress and encourages them to stick to a healthy diet and exercise regimen. This helps reduce the risk of infections and improves health outcomes.
It also helps to avoid exposing patients to infectious diseases by eliminating the need for in-person visits. This is particularly important for older people and those who are immunocompromised or chronically ill.
Glucose meters for diabetic patients, blood pressure and heart rate monitors, and asthma monitoring devices help manage these conditions. They also help patients to adhere to their treatment regimens and prevent long-term complications like diabetes, stroke or heart attack. RPM technology can also help increase access to healthcare in rural communities, a major goal of the government’s health equity campaign. This is especially important for chronic disease patients and those unable to travel or work outside their homes.
What are the challenges of RPM?
The biggest challenge in RPM is overcoming the initial skepticism from individuals who need to be used to using or trying new technology. However, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that when there is a compelling enough need, people will invest their time to try and learn solutions if they know they can help impact their health and well-being.
The next challenge is figuring out how to scale and provide value for practices and patients. This includes device selection, logistics, connectivity, integration and software tools. Rules need to choose third-party partners that offer a fully managed suite of services that can be customized and tailored to the needs of individual clinics.
Lastly, RPM requires physicians to stay aware of patients’ data so they can be proactive with their care. This means that if the data shows symptoms of a potential problem, like a rise in blood sugar or blood pressure, physicians can respond to those concerns before they get out of hand.