Are Patient Monitoring Systems the Future of Healthcare?
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the rise and adoption of digital health solutions. Telehealth emerged as one of the viable options, with remote care at its center. The ability to track patient vitals and progress remotely opened up numerous avenues for digital health: providers can now provide care to patients cozily sitting in the comfort of their homes. That is the true worth of remote patient monitoring systems.
What Is the Value of Remote Patient Monitoring?
We define RPM as technology that allows for remote access to care that does not require a traditional visit to a clinician. By using wearable technology, patients collect their vitals and track their progress, gathering their data in a non-clinical setting and giving their care providers the most up-to-date information.
We can utilize this technology for a variety of conditions: from asthma to COVID. Remote patient monitoring services proved their worth, especially in managing chronic conditions: currently, at least 50% of the US population is managing a chronic illness, cumulatively comprising 86% of healthcare costs.
RPM can address several issues: it reduces the cost of healthcare, it reduces the number of patient readmissions, it collects data in a non-clinical setting, and it gives a fuller patient picture, driving better engagement and clinical results. This is best evident in the following fact: using RPM as a part of a treatment plan for patients with chronic heart failure leads to $5,034 net savings per patient each year while decreasing the readmission rates by 64%, as opposed to treating patients without this technology.
The Adoption of RPM
This technology's efficiency and widespread application drastically influenced the acceptance rate among patients and providers. Aside from the obvious health benefits for patients and data-gathering for providers, this technology turns patients into activated patients and nudges them to take a more active role in their healthcare delivery.
In recognition of this benefit, the adoption of remote monitoring continues to rise as the years go by. In 2020, the estimated number of patients relying on this technology was over 29 million. This number grew in 2021 when more than 39 million people enrolled in RPM programs. The number is only expected to rise until 2025 when an estimated number of users is expected to be more than 70 million.
Remote Patient Monitoring Statistics
With the growing number of users, the market for this technology is exponentially becoming larger: by 2027, the RPM market will be worth more than $1.7 billion. The wearables segment influences the billion-dollar industry: the wearable technology market will be worth more than $380 billion by 2028.
The ease of use and numerous practical benefits above support the uprising prediction trajectories. 4 out of 5 patients wish to utilize RPM technology, especially in managing chronic conditions. According to MSI international, patients reported that they rely on RPM to help them with managing the following health-related factors:
70% for blood pressure
68% for heart rate
66% for blood sugar
65% for blood oxygen
But these aren’t the only factors that patients seem to recognize. When asked why they opted to enroll in practices with remote patient monitoring systems in place, the patients reported what they considered to be the most significant benefit:
43% cited greater convenience
39% better efficiency
37% reported more control over personal health and a more active role in healthcare delivery
36% cited increased accuracy
36% said that using this tech gives them “peace of mind”
Healthcare Remote Monitoring Among Physicians
Since 25% of surveyed patients reported that they would switch care providers if they could access telehealth, it is understandable that care providers would do what they need to offer this service in their practice. From a clinical patient perspective, it is easy to see why RPM would be so appealing. However, providers themselves stand to reap numerous benefits from the application of this technology.
Using a patient monitoring system, providers can track their patients once they leave the medical practice and continue providing continuous healthcare data. Recording this data digitally alleviates some workplace burdens while decreasing the necessary hours for such tasks. This technology also allows practitioners to reach more patients, whether uninsured or living in rural areas, making it geographically challenging to get to the physician’s office or minority patients. In other words, remote patient monitoring devices improve patient health, allowing physicians to take on more patients in less time.
By recognizing this fact, the number of clinicians who have already endorsed this technology has grown recently. While 85% of medical professionals approved and endorsed RPM in 2016, that number rose to 93% in 2022 across all ages and specialties.
Digital tools have the potential to improve the future of healthcare drastically, and, as such, their usage among care practitioners has increased. In 2016, the average amount of digital tools a physician used was 2.2; in 2022, that number increased to 3.8.
Remote care saw the lion’s share of the increased use. The percentage of physicians relying on televisits or virtual visits grew from 14% in 2016 to 80% in 2022. Given the intertwined nature of remote healthcare and wearables, it is also not surprising that the number of physicians utilizing wearable technology to track patient progress also increased: the number of physicians using remote monitoring devices grew from 12% in 2016 to 30% in 2022.
According to everything above, it is no surprise that the technologies that garner the most interest are televisits and wearables: 57% of physicians reported feeling enthusiastic about implementing telehealth, whereas 53% said they are looking forward to seeing all the benefits that wearables will bring.
The Future of Telehealth
Based on everything related to the growing market size and adoption rates, there is no question that patient remote monitoring, as a subset of telehealth, is here to stay and thrive. With growing demands for this technology in the industry, you must brace yourself and prepare for the issues related to scalability and patient intake.
Vicert already has decades of experience in digital health, and we have successfully developed and deployed a patient monitoring system in the past. Need a custom RPM healthcare solution? Don’t hesitate to reach out and learn more about what we offer.
