What is remote monitoring?
Remote monitoring provides the ability for patients to share physiological or other data with their care teams from home or other locations outside of a traditional in-person clinical encounter.
Remote monitoring framework
Remote monitoring is no longer a nice-to-have tool–it’s a critical component of modern care delivery that extends the reach of clinicians beyond traditional settings. Health systems that strategically implement remote monitoring solutions can expect to enable proactive and personalized care at scale. The most successful implementations will prioritize an enterprise-wide approach that complements existing initiatives and reaches diverse population groups.
The case for remote monitoring
Creating a remote patient monitoring strategy should start with the questions: What problem are we trying to solve, and what is the value to be gained for our patients and our business?” Your RPM service can power up several benefits to multiple stakeholders. For health systems that operate under a fee-for-service model or are shifting to a fee-for-value model, remote patient monitoring offers unique and substantial benefits, from increasing capacity and driving revenue to increasing opportunities for shared savings or reducing the risk of penalties associated with avoidable utilization.
Fee-for-service
Health systems primarily using a fee-for-service model are finding significant value in remote patient monitoring due to improved patient experience and increased revenue when implemented at scale. RPM allows patients to have a stronger connection to their care team, driving satisfaction and loyalty, while new reimbursements for RPM services can enhance margin. A number of research studies have demonstrated patient satisfaction in the ninetieth percentile, as indicated by likelihood to recommend and user-friendliness.1 From a direct reimbursement lens, it’s estimated that the total monthly reimbursement for RPM is up to $120 per Medicare beneficiary.2
Fee-for-value
Health systems that are making the move to fee-for-value are increasingly looking to RPM to help them reduce costs and support people’s best health, using real-time data to prevent or slow disease progression and avoidable utilization. These systems – and their patients – are seeing value in RPM due to improved clinical outcomes and quality of life, reduced readmissions and avoidable ED visits, and increased use of primary care services. Studies from Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Veterans Health Administration, and members of the AVIA Network, such as Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin, report reduced hospitalizations and shorter lengths of stay when hospitalized. Many health systems operating with more value-based arrangements have been experimenting with a wide variety of RPM capabilities, either during COVID-19 or before. These early adopters are now looking to build an integrated, enterprise-wide RPM strategy to scale what’s working with greater efficiency and impact.
Key attributes of remote monitoring solutions
Effective RM platforms offer a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance patient care, improve outcomes, and streamline clinical workflows. Key attributes of leading RM solutions include:
Organizing for success with remote monitoring
Remote patient monitoring can be a lifeline for hospitals when treating the increasing number of patients with chronic conditions and can be expanded to provide proactive services to rising-risk patients from the comfort of their own homes. When done well, RM can provide significant value for patients, improve clinical outcomes, and serve as a revenue driver for health systems.
- Prioritize populations: Different patient groups and acuity levels within chronic populations require varying interventions and tools. Lower-risk patients will likely not need the same resources, staff, and tools that higher-acuity patients need. Implement risk stratification or analytics to understand patient needs and provide appropriate RM support.
- Prepare for data management: Establish a clear plan for handling incoming data. With the adoption of RM, patient biometric data can impede clinicians with an overflux of new information. Ensure there is an infrastructure in place to monitor and act on the information to address any possible clinician apprehensions about data influx.
- Integrate with broader care initiatives: Consider how remote monitoring ties in with other existing programs such as low-acuity care, high-acuity care, hospital-at-home, and post-discharge monitoring. Each use case may require different platforms and teams and the RM solution should seamlessly work across existing care initiatives.
- Adopt an enterprise-wide approach: Minimize point solutions by organizing around a single platform. Develop a broader strategy to prevent siloed implementations by specific service lines. Consider solutions that can support multiple conditions and acuity types, allowing for a more unified and scalable approach to remote monitoring across the entire organization.
