Find out more about remote patient monitoring – and how it is rapidly growing to deliver benefits for patients and providers alike.
What is RPM?
Like most forms of telemedicine that have expanded over the pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has become mainstream. With RPM, Internet-connected patient care equipment is placed in the patient’s home to measure vital signs like blood pressure, weight, blood-glucose levels, blood-oxygen levels, and even heart rhythm. This data improves telehealth by providing real-time information to the patient’s healthcare provider. Physicians can now monitor the patient’s condition remotely, often catching changes in condition before symptoms becomes serious. RPM has been found to reduce ER visits, readmissions to the hospital, and give patients with chronic illnesses more “good” days.
Adoption of RPM
In a recent article by Health IT News, WebCareHealth CEO Teresa Sleck discusses the results of a new survey report regarding adoption and usage of RPM.
In the survey, sixty percent of healthcare executives and clinical leaders believe remote patient monitoring will become a new standard of care over the next two years.
For this type of rapid adoption to happen, important prerequisites must be in place to drive rollouts of new technology in communities. Provider needs and patient needs must align – and one of those key drivers is ease of use. While Teresa Sleck discusses the steps that healthcare organizations must take to expand RPM, she stated, “Ensuring ease of use for patients also is important for patient engagement and buy-in.” Without smooth patient processes, adoption will still lag behind.
Patient-facing paperwork like online intake forms and medical records release forms need to be simple. From there, devices in the home need to be intuitive and easy to troubleshoot. Physician documentation needs to be simple and flow to the existing EMR. With the right workflow, RPM is a natural progression that supports wellness for a wide range of patients.
Patient Benefits
When patients onboard to RPM, over time they can expect benefits like fewer disease complications, more knowledge about their health, how their disease process works, and a better relationship with their provider. RPM also lowers healthcare costs by reducing hospitalizations and possibly the number of medications that must be taken.
FormDr supports simple and intuitive RPM processes with secure forms and documents. Patients can sign forms without leaving home to do it, making RPM even easier to initiate.
