Remote Patient Monitoring: Statistics and Benefits
- June 10, 2022
When the world collapsed due to the COVID eruption in March 2020, we witnessed the rise of app and technology usage. The preference to use said technology was evident personally and professionally. According to a study conducted by CDC, the U.S. saw a 154% increase in the number of telemedicine visits. Telehealth, defined as the provision of healthcare services through different means of technology, was brought under a closer inspection, and, with it, so did remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Remote Monitoring in Healthcare
One of the many lessons that COVID-19 taught us is that a 1-hour meeting could have been an email. Not all of us need to be in the office all the time. Many businesses learned to adapt to the new model of alternating office presence or complete remote work. COVID also highlighted the fragility of healthcare systems. It allowed serverless technology to shine, showing the benefits of remote patient monitoring.
Defined as the technology enabling monitoring without traditional visits to clinicians or clinical settings, it allows progress-tracking, self-management, and access to care in the comfort of your own home. Relying on telemedicine solutions, it works in sync with the development of several patient-provider components (mobile apps for patients, HIPAA-compliant text/video chats, integration with various EHRs) to ensure numerous benefits to both patients and care providers.
Benefits of Remote Patient Monitoring
As was already mentioned, there are plenty of benefits related to remote health. However, these aren’t limited only to benefits granted to the providers – the patients also gain plenty. We have compiled a non-exhaustive list of advantages arising from remote monitoring in healthcare.
For care providers:
- Greater Productivity: given the constant information stream, care providers can focus on coming up with solutions based on the results yielded by the remote patient monitoring devices. Since no time is lost on the collection and configuration of data, they can actually attend and help more people.
- More patients, more revenue: integration of wireless patient monitoring systems into one’s practice helps improve a clinician’s business: it allows them to monitor multiple patients simultaneously and retain and attain new patients through attractive business models.
- Reduction of no-shows: one of the most common reasons a patient’s no-show is as old as time: they forgot. With remote patient monitoring, this excuse ceases to exist, and it allows smooth and uninterrupted workflow during the day.
For patients:
- Better patient care: as wearable devices grant clinicians instantaneous access, the patients will be on the receiving end of fast and the most up-to-date necessary care. Furthermore, they will have more time on their hands as there would be no need to visit the clinicians physically.
- No waiting rooms, less disease transmission: with the implementation of remote patient monitoring solutions, clinical spaces and waiting rooms would significantly drop attendance. In the post-COVID world, this is an essential contributor toward flattening the curve and highlighting the benefits of remote monitoring systems.
- Helps patients with adherence and self-management: the clinicians aren’t the only ones who can see and utilize the health data present in their patients’ health apps. Patients can take full advantage of their serverless technologies within their clinician’s remote patient monitoring system to track their progress, adhere to therapies, and learn of their condition-specific needs in real-time.
Implementation
Mostly for the better, telehealth is here to stay. We have already demonstrated to what extent it can affect and improve the quality of life of a patient and the operation of businesses. We haven’t answered how to conduct the implementation of remote monitoring in healthcare.
As was mentioned above, the goal of implementing a telemedicine solution is to ensure a safe and efficient flow of information while adhering to HIPAA. It consists of multiple components affecting both: care providers and patients. Here at Vicert, we have already assembled a list of what is necessary to optimize health adequately based on our diligent and experienced work within the industry.
RPM Devices
As the name suggests, wireless patient monitoring cannot be conducted without the proper technology to back it up. Such devices are designed to be user-friendly and collect, monitor, and analyze the patient’s health. While the focus is mostly on chronic conditions, both patients and medical teams can see the comprehensive vitals collected by a symbiosis of apps and IoMT devices – and Vicert develops just that.
Remote Patient Monitoring Statistics
While, at this point, it seems inevitable that telehealth is here to stay, it is worth taking a look at how clinicians and patients perceive it. The benefits of remote monitoring are undeniable, yet their immediate acceptance is not guaranteed. That said, substantial growth is expected in the near future. Let’s look at current trends and statistics:
- According to Insider Intelligence, it is estimated that by 2025, roughly 70 million US patients (or 26% of the population) will use remote patient monitoring services.
- A KLAS Research report stated, based on a survey of 25 healthcare organizations, that 38% saw a reduction in chronic care admissions, while 17% reported cost reductions.
- A study of patients enrolled in the COVID-19 monitoring program (April 2020 through February 2021) showed that 12 461 out of 13 055 patients completed the program and fully recovered. The purpose was to mitigate the risk and employ remote health monitoring to flatten the curve. Of all the patients, 95.5% fully recovered, 10.6% were hospitalized, and 0.2% didn’t recover.
After the pandemic, the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition examined how wireless patient monitoring became the preferred patient/provider interaction method. The overall goal was to help guide medical practices and regulations about healthcare in times to come. Remote patient monitoring was quickly brought as physicians utilized it in the following ways:
- More than 75% of physicians in urban, suburban, and rural areas utilize it for chronic disease management.
- More than 65% utilized it for medical management in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
- More than 60% in all areas utilized it for care coordination.
Based on the above, it quickly becomes apparent that remote patient monitoring plays a vital role in longitudinal treatments and has wide-reaching effects in assisting clinicians and caregivers. So, how do patients feel about it?
According to a June 2021 MSI International survey, 80% of Americans favor using a remote monitoring system. In August 2021, 88% of consumers stated that healthcare providers checked on them remotely.
A few years ago, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center studied the benefits of remote patient monitoring. The patient satisfaction rate rose by over 90% once the patients were equipped with tablets and RPM equipment.
Is RPM Healthcare Worth It?
Whether a patient prefers an in-person visit or a remote check-up, it remains impossible to overlook the positive effects of utilizing remote patient monitoring. Similarly, the clinicians themselves can also feel these benefits in multiple avenues: whether it is in increased productivity or revenues. With the expected growth in the telehealth devices industry, we can conclude that the best time to try and utilize them was yesterday. The second best time is now.
