How to Integrate Remote Patient Monitoring Data?

For years, Remote patient monitoring solution has made a significant impact in healthcare delivery. But, the COVID-19 crisis has underscored its value in care continuum solutions.

The convenience of collecting patient’s health data outside the clinical walls with greater levels of interconnectivity radically helps in improving healthcare outcomes.

RPM solutions are touted for their ability to track a patient’s health for conditions ranging from chronic disease management to acute episodes of care that typically require vigilance post-procedure. The data collected by clinicians are then used to monitor a range of wellness metrics such as heart rate, blood sugar, step counts, blood oxygen, patient’s temperature, and a variety of other physiologic motions.

These operational advantages provided by RPM technologies have made it an important asset of healthcare solutions. Apparently, the transformative results can be gauged not only by improved health outcomes relished by advanced healthcare facilities but also by home care settings undergoing remote care with telemedicine applications and other connected devices.

Clearly, integrated RPM solutions have provided clinicians an extended power to connect with patients and provide remote care. Thus, bypassing the challenges of taking in-person appointments and eliminating the need for transport and commutation. Further, it has also helped people living in remote areas to access advanced healthcare facilities.

However, the sheer quantity of RPM data collected in the healthcare data management system can seem intimidating unless a successful RPM program is put in place.

The method of collating RPM data should be done securely by best matching the needs of clinicians, patients and the RPM program. This enables care providers to reach till roots of the data through AI/analytics and closely examine to prevent the occurrence of serious healthcare issues.

Let’s See How This RPM Data Can Be Collected And Analyzed?

To capture the data, remote patient monitoring can employ a plethora of wireless devices (sent as a patient kit) such as blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, biosensors, manometer, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. These devices can be connected to patients’ smartphones to send the collected health data to the physician.

However, smart devices or pre-configured 4G-enabled devices for RPM have the capabilities to directly transfer the data to clinicians without smartphones or other wireless connections.

Another way to collect RPM data could be through APIs connected directly with EHR. These APIs allow doctors to analyze, monitor, and track patient’s progress by actively managing the data and responding to alerts immediately to address issues and avoiding serious situations.

Given there are several ways to collect this RPM data, the only key to be ensured is “Protection of Patient’s Privacy”. So, while data coalition, it is important to meet all the standard (country-specific) compliances and regulations such as HIPAA, GDPR, and MOHAP.

As soon as the data is collected in the hospital’s existing database or physician’s dashboard, the physician can now analyze it through advanced data analytics tools powered by AI and machine learning. These effective RPM programs have the ability to improve the quality of care and increase patient satisfaction.

Thanks to the capabilities of RPM data analysis that go beyond patient engagement and comfort. These patient-facing remote monitoring solution that also includes telehealth app solutions for enabling virtual visits helps physicians in cutting costs, providing faster diagnosis and making timely treatment decisions.

In addition, this intelligible data also alerts doctors when specific data recorded from patients’ devices fall out of the acceptable clinical range so that they can immediately address the issue and provide preventive medicine.

Simply put, if the RPM program is successfully implemented, it will definitely help providers in gathering valuable information and take life-saving decisions.

This Calls For The Next Question, How You Implement A Successful Remote Patient Monitoring Program?

It’s a three steps evaluation process to determine if your healthcare organization is ready to create an effective RPM program:

1. Is your organization’s IT system adept enough to support an RPM solution?

2. If you plan to enable 3rd party APIs for executing RPM-can your electronic health record integrates with your patient management software?

3. Do you have any in-house RPM programmer? OR any knowledgeable person who can support and handle that integration in due course of time?

Conduct a board meeting with all physicians, clinicians, and other board members to come to any conclusion for the above questions.

Ensuring Patient’s Comfort and Convenience

• Make sure the device is ready to use as soon as the patient opens the kit.
• The device must be easy to use and do not require any special technical training.
• A small handy manual must assist patients if they spot any technical issues.

Know that, if patients are facing problems using your device, sooner or later, they will abandon it in their care cycle. Eventually, leading to negative patient outcomes.

Key Takeaway:

Patients are fervently interested in remote monitoring solutions post the onset of the pandemic. An in-person consultation is flattened with a very low engagement rate. RPM integration technologies have transformed and optimized every aspect of care.

Integrating RPM devices with your EHR can help you with a range of benefits with improved patient satisfaction and better decision outcomes being at the forefront.

People have widely embraced RPM technologies like telemedicine app solutions and tools like Apple Watch, Fitbit, etc. Leveraging this penchant in your care continuum solutions can help you deliver better patient outcomes with improved care delivery.