Patients benefit from RPM solutions, gaining peace of mind through proper and ongoing medical oversight while avoiding hospital readmissions. In addition, RPM provides a new revenue stream for physicians and healthcare organizations.
RPM is a popular telehealth option for chronic conditions like diabetes and CHF. It reduces readmissions, generates recurring revenue and increases patient outcomes.
Costs
Reducing readmissions is more than an operational benefit in the current reimbursement climate, where healthcare providers are paid based on patient outcomes. It is also becoming a financial imperative for hospitals.
RPM allows physicians to observe their patients’ data in near real-time, allowing them to make more informed treatment recommendations and quickly respond to risk alerts. These healthcare advancements, including, CoachCare remote patient monitoring, have the potential to drastically reduce avoidable ER visits and unnecessary hospitalizations and even save on hospital bed days.
One facility that implemented a remote monitoring program for COVID-19 patients saw reduced readmission rates and overall hospital admissions by 75%, saving the healthcare system over $6,500 per patient annually.
The additional touchpoints facilitated by telehealth improve physician-patient trust, communication, and care delivery while lowering care costs for patients and caregivers.
Reliability
Unlike short-term fitness wearables, remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices are clinically focused and can measure various health indicators. These can include a range of cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.
RPM falls under the broader telehealth umbrella, including tools like e-prescribing, e-consultations, and virtual office visits. It allows patients to communicate with their physicians remotely without traveling to an in-person appointment, reducing costs and decreasing the risk of infection.
As a result, it can be an important tool during a pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals implemented remote patient monitoring solutions in which patients with COVID-19 that had been discharged were provided with a pulse oximeter and thermometer to monitor their symptoms and oxygen saturation, which they reported daily using an app. Physicians then monitored their progress and called them if there were any concerning trends or signs. This was found to reduce ED visits and hospital readmissions.
Patient Engagement
Patient engagement is a concept that focuses on engaging patients with their healthcare providers and making them an active part of the decision-making process. This includes ensuring that patients are equipped to monitor their health, understand their symptoms, and make educated choices about their healthcare.
This approach has successfully reduced hospital readmission rates for facilities and patients. Moreover, it generates recurring revenue and improves customer satisfaction.
However, it is essential to prioritize the quality of the end-user experience and patient retention. This requires having complete transparency across all operations, including employee performance and location, resource availability and scheduling efficiency, service details and delivery, and patient data. A secure clinical communication platform will enable you to provide this level of visibility. This will also allow you to easily communicate with your patients and their designated care team by voice, text, and video. This will enable you to build engagement and reduce no-shows, hospital readmissions, and ER visits.
Compliance
Hospital readmissions place a huge burden on the United States healthcare system. Not only are they costly, but they also lead to undue stress and frustration for patients and their families. They can also negatively impact the hospital’s reimbursements, resulting in lost revenue.
Telehealth and remote patient monitoring are effective in reducing readmissions. However, the results have been mixed across conditions and programs. One of the most promising programs is pairing RPM with a nurse care manager via scheduled contacts, similar to in-person care transition programs.
Remote patient monitoring has improved engagement and outcomes, reducing readmissions and lowering costs. It is a key part of value-based strategies and provides an opportunity to generate recurring revenue for physicians and healthcare systems. In addition, it can help alleviate the COVID-19-related nursing shortage and reduce the pressure on hospital beds.