Three First Steps to Starting an RPM Program
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is undoubtedly growing in popularity, and with good reason. Providers have not only shown improved patient outcomes, but boosted revenue due to reimbursement opportunities from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). RPM is beneficial whether your organization is still largely fee-for-service, or has moved to a risk-based payment structure. The challenge is where to begin.
Step 1: Identify a Starting Clinical Use Case for RPM
With so many potential clinical use cases, it can be hard to narrow down where to start. Think about your patient population and who could benefit the most from RPM. What are your population health goals? Do you want to improve hypertension control, reduce readmissions, improve diabetes control?
Typically, practices start with a single use case to get used to RPM and expand from there. Common starting points include:
• Patients with poorly controlled diabetes
• Patients with poorly controlled hypertension
• Patients with obesity beginning a new weight management treatment
• Patients with heart failure
Step 2: Review EHR Integration Capabilities
One hesitation we often hear from providers is not wanting a separate system with separate data to manage. Rimidi offers an integrated RPM experience, which not only enables single sign on to the EHR and Rimidi, but enables clinicians to see relevant, disease specific data from the EHR beyond just the RPM data. For example, if diabetes is your starting use case, Rimidi’s diabetes module allows you to see the patient’s latest A1C, what other diagnoses they have, and what medications they are on alongside their glucometer or Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) data.
Some practices choose to solely focus on RPM—especially if they are seeking reimbursement for RPM services—without the added disease management modules. Rimidi’s platform is also used by many providers as a standalone software outside of the EHR.
Step 3: Determine if you will Outsource Remote Patient Monitoring Services
Many practices are feeling the strain of growing staffing shortages. While the right RPM software can improve clinical staff efficiency and scaling, some healthcare providers are turning to outsourced clinical team who specialize in RPM to support their programs.
Rimidi supports your in-house team of clinicians with robust training and guidance or offers outsourced clinical monitoring if you do not have the staff to manage the program.
If your clinic will be doing the monitoring, ensure you have a program lead who will champion the program to patients and colleagues.
