Remote Patient Monitoring: Obstacle or Opportunity?
The COVID-19 pandemic drove a significant increase in the usage of remote patient monitoring (RPM) by healthcare organizations and their patients -- a 555% increase among Medicare beneficiaries, in fact.
Yet despite this rapid growth, 75% of medical practices have yet to offer RPM, and large healthcare systems have seen a slow adoption rate of only 20%, leaving many to ask the question: Is RPM an obstacle, or an opportunity?
Remote Patient Monitoring: An Opportunity to Improve Patient Care and Clinical Workflows
When it comes to RPM, two common obstacles persist: (1) the lack of education around reimbursements; and (2) the confusion around where to start and how to structure a program.
In January of 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicard Services (CMS) introduced the first RPM specific CPT code. Continuing on, RPM codes are iterated each year. Most recently, the CMS ramped up incentives for RPM with the goal of lowering costs of chronic conditions. Additional flexibilities were also put in place as part of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency to expand use of connected health solutions. With substantial reimbursement mechanisms in place for providing remote patient monitoring services, medical practices are now finding that this is a sustainable offering to incorporate into the care they provide to patients.
Implementation can be seen as an obstacle as providers have struggled to fit such solutions into their existing workflows. One quickly realizes that the focus should not be on data transmission but workflow optimization. When considering an RPM deployment, the first step is considering the people – both providers and patients – who will use the technology.
One consideration for your patients is the type of device you will use for your RPM program – cellular-enabled or Bluetooth? Many providers who offer RPM have found cellular devices that work out-of-the-box and are already set up to transmit data work better for patient populations who are less tech savvy.
For your clinicians, the most important thing is that the RPM solution is integrated into the EHR – not just the data integration but the workflow integration and optimization. The clinical team needs to be alerted to patterns of behavior, exceptions and outliers such that they can take action on patient treatment plans with a focus on outcomes.
Recognizing the Value of Remote Patient Monitoring
When implemented in a way that works best for your patients and clinicians,, RPM enables providers to more effectively and efficiently manage patients with chronic conditions.
As one of the top five companies for RPM, according to AVIA Connect, Rimidi is proud to offer a FHIR-enabled, all-in-one RPM platform that enables clinicians to remotely monitor patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, heart failure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity and more – all while working within the existing clinical workflow.
With the right partner in place to guide your practice along their RPM journey, challenges with reimbursements and implementation can be overcome, further demonstrating the opportunity of RPM and the many benefits it provides to providers and patients alike.
To learn more about our platform or to move forward in your RPM journey, contact us today.
