Leading Community Health Center TrueCare Partners with Rimidi to Improve Hypertension Control for Patients

News | May 23rd, 2023

By implementing Rimidi’s remote patient monitoring solution, TrueCare patients with hypertension are able to access better care to improve blood pressure control

ATLANTA -- May 23, 2023 -- Rimidi, a leading clinical management platform designed to optimize clinical workflows, enhance patient experiences and achieve quality objectives, today announced that TrueCare, a nonprofit community health center serving North San Diego and Riverside Counties, has completed phase one implementation of the Rimidi platform into their operations as a way to improve hypertension control for patients through remote blood pressure monitoring. TrueCare added Rimidi with support from a Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) Hypertension grant.

Rimidi’s platform brings patient-generated blood pressure data into the clinical workflow and makes that data actionable via configurable clinical decision support cards and alerts. Rimidi integrates with cellular-enabled blood pressure cuffs, which transmit data from the device directly to the platform, meaning patients do not need Wi-Fi, smartphones, hubs or apps for their doctor to be able to see their home blood pressure data. Cellular devices were a key reason TrueCare chose Rimidi, as 94% of the patient population they serve is below the 200% federal poverty level.

To begin the Rimidi deployment, TrueCare designed a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program workflow and worked with Rimidi to configure the platform to meet their specific needs, including setting customized alert thresholds, automated text messaging in a patient’s preferred language, and clinical decision support cards to identify when patients are consistently not taking their readings. TrueCare patients are referred to the RPM program by a primary care provider if they have uncontrolled blood pressure, defined by TrueCare as greater than 140/90 mmHg. Upon referral, patients meet with TrueCare health coaches who provide them with instructions on how to use the cellular-enabled blood pressure device, as well as education about their current BP medications, diet, and exercise. During this meeting, the health coaches add the patient to the Rimidi platform and connect their cellular-enabled device to monitor the patient’s daily readings in near real-time.

TrueCare began the program in January 2023 and has ramped up implementation at an impressive rate that grows each month. As of April 2023, TrueCare has 70 patients enrolled in the program, adding on average 10 more patients per month. To date, 34 patients have graduated from the program, meaning their blood pressure has been controlled. If the blood pressure goal is not met, a TrueCare pharmacist or the patient’s provider is alerted and medications are adjusted.

On average, TrueCare is seeing approximately 30 monthly readings per patient, indicating a high level of compliance. In addition, providers have been able to reduce medications for patients due to improved hypertension control, and because the program has helped identify White Coat Hypertension when patients have high blood pressure in the clinic but not at home.

“Our patients historically have not had access to life-changing healthcare technology such as remote patient monitoring. Knowing the value of RPM in improving patient engagement and outcomes, we wanted an RPM solution to help us better manage our growing hypertension patient population, of which 79% are of racial or ethnic minority,” said Denise Gomez, MD, a primary care physician and Director of Adult Medicine at TrueCare. “Through Rimidi, patients have been able to easily monitor their blood pressure without using phone data and care teams have been able to easily track patient progress within our workflow, allowing the proper actions to take place to improve patient health outcomes.”

“We are honored to work alongside TrueCare to ensure that medically underserved patient populations are benefitting from care delivery innovations and digital health,” said Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO of Rimidi. “We will always advocate for additional funding mechanisms for community health centers (CHCs) to scale and sustain existing programs, and ensure our technology continues to meet the unique needs of their patients.”

The next phase of TrueCare’s RPM program will see a continued patient enrollment expansion, especially since TrueCare recently opened an Older Adult Health Care location to address seniors living with chronic and complex medical conditions. TrueCare is also planning Rimidi integration with the organization’s Epic OCHIN EHR. The integration will allow the TrueCare care team to see home blood pressure readings in the context of other clinically relevant data from the EHR—including in-clinic labs and vitals, current medications, and a calculated ASCVD risk score.

To learn how Rimidi's configurable platform makes RPM easy for community health centers, visit rimidi.com.

About Rimidi
Created by doctors, Rimidi’s leading clinical management platform empowers healthcare organizations to optimize clinical workflows, enhance patient experiences and achieve quality objectives. By bringing together clinical decision support, remote patient monitoring and patient reported outcomes in a unified, composable, FHIR-based platform, Rimidi supports a broad range of clinical use cases and institutional priorities across large and small healthcare organizations. For more information, visit rimidi.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About TrueCare
For over 50 years, TrueCare has not wavered in its commitment to patients, their families, and its communities. As a nonprofit community health center, TrueCare is dedicated to delivering a superior and compassionate healthcare experience to nearly 60,000 patients every year, reducing barriers and increasing accessibility to quality care. TrueCare cares for the diverse communities of North San Diego and South Riverside Counties with comprehensive services including primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, chiropractic, dentistry, acupuncture and podiatry. In addition, TrueCare offers transportation services, community health outreach, insurance enrollment assistance, and case management programs, among other community programs.

Media Contacts:
Michelle Rand
Alloy, on behalf of Rimidi
855.300.8209
michelle.rand@alloycrew.com

TrueCare Media Contact:
Lisa Muldowney
TrueCare
760.566.1437
lisa.muldowney@truecare.org