Benefits of an Effective Remote Patient Monitoring Platform

Healthcare providers have long been aware of the power of health data to drive significant improvements in patient care. However, reliance on manual data collection and record-keeping has limited providers’ ability to leverage this knowledge in a meaningful way. 

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has the potential to change this reality. This process can be used to automate much of the work of collecting, storing, and synthesizing health data, allowing physicians to provide quality remote care to patients as far as hundreds of miles away.

To achieve optimal results, you will need to pair high-quality health devices with a top-quality medical IoT platform. Your choice of remote patient monitoring platform impacts its success. How can you bring this promising technology into your own medical facility?

What is Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)? 

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a technology that enables monitoring of patients outside of conventional clinical settings by utilizing connected medical devices. It is often considered to be a branch of telemedicine alongside processes like video consultations and remote prescribing. 

RPM can be used to keep an eye on vital metrics: 

• Blood oxygen levels
• Blood pressure
• Blood sugar levels
• Body temperature
• Calorie intake
• Exercise levels
• Grip strength

Healthcare providers can use the data to adjust the treatment program and provide patients with the care they need.

Benefits of RPM

RPM is often used to monitor the health of patients recently released from acute care. However, latest research shows that utilizing RPM to manage chronic diseases has a good impact.

Conditions such as COPD, diabetes, and congestive heart failure are lifelong afflictions that often are very difficult for patients to manage on their own. Relapses are common, and when they happen, hospitalization is often needed. These medical conditions are very expensive to treat and take a heavy toll on patients’ quality of life. In 2010 CVD World-Wide cost US$ 863 billion – this is estimated to rise by 22% to US$ 1,044 billion by 2030. Treating chronic diseases costs 3.5 times more than it does other conditions, and they account for 80% of all hospital admissions.

Using RPM to manage patient care has been shown to reduce all-cause mortality in chronic disease patients by up to 34% and lower hospital admission rates for COPD patients by twenty percent. 

Additional benefits for patients include: 

• Access to better future treatments – The health data that RPM provides can also be analyzed on a collective level, potentially providing groundbreaking insights into specific health conditions that can be used to develop better treatments. 
• Increased assurance – Patients can rest easy knowing that their vital signs are being monitored 24/7. 
• Data driven decision making – Health monitoring technology can automatically generate daily or weekly reports, keeping patients informed of their health status at all times. 

Reimbursement for Remote Patient Monitoring Services

Healthcare providers can receive reimbursement for RPM services using a specific set of remote patient monitoring CPT codes, including codes 99453, 99454, 99457, 99458, and 99091. 

These codes allow healthcare providers to bill insurance companies for everything from the cost of leasing a connected medical device to time spent setting up a device, interpreting health data, or providing remote care services. Most of these codes require services to be billed in distinct 20-minute chunks.

Using an IoMT Platform for RPM 

RPM is a data-driven process that results in countless amounts of new health information being logged daily; far too much for healthcare providers to manage on their own. For best results, healthcare professionals need a way to quickly synthesize this data and identify both long- and short-term trends. 

IoMT platforms offer a simple solution to this problem. These tools automatically collect a constant stream of health data from connected patients and consolidate it on a single user-friendly interface. Healthcare professionals can access this information at any time using a secure and fully HIPAA-compliant portal, and they are automatically alerted to any patient readings that differ significantly from established norms. Caregivers may also be able to access the data from the patient’s home if they have authorization.  

The best remote patient monitoring platforms also simplify logistical issues like reimbursement billing by automatically logging the time spent providing remote patient care. Some platforms even include time-based alerts so healthcare providers can maximize billing time.

How to Implement RPM  

Implementing RPM with an off-the-shelf IoMT platform for your medical device is a multi-step process.  

1. Notify key stakeholders of your plans.

Before you take any significant steps toward establishing an RPM program, be sure to secure buy-in from healthcare providers, industry executives, and most of all, patients. 

2. Create a budget.

Assess what resources you have available for your RPM program, including funds, time, and personnel. 

3. Establish the scope of your project.

‍Taking your resources into account, identify what you want your RPM program to accomplish. Will you start with a pilot project and a handful of select patients, or will you offer it to a larger group? What metrics do you want to measure and what results do you want to see? 

4. Connect your hardware.

Medical device companies, willing to implement RPM, need to connect their device to the medical-grade cloud. Whereas these cloud solutions can be developed in-house, ready-to-use IoMT platform significantly save costs and time-to-market, as well as mitigate security risks. 

5. Choose your IoMT platform.

Your IoMT platform will gather and synthesize your RPM data for you. It should be secure, compliant with all the regulations, versatile, easy to understand and offer additional features like patient collaboration and adherence, billing alerts, etc. 

6. Perform your rollout.

Distribute devices to patients and show them how to use them. Expect to spend some extra time answering questions and providing assistance in these early stages. Eventually, your patients will become proficient in using these devices as part of their care. 

7. Collect feedback.

Ask patients and other stakeholders about your new RPM processes and listen carefully to their answers. What they say will help you fine-tune your program and deliver better care to those who need it. 

Leveraging Technology for Cutting-Edge Patient Care 

Remote patient monitoring could dramatically improve your ability to care for your most vulnerable patients, especially when driven by a high-powered medical IoMT platform.  

BioT’s IoMT platform offers everything you need to successfully implement RPM for your medical device. Book a demo of our connected care platform and experience firsthand its reliable performance and impressive array of features. Contact us today.