Factors Leading to the Growth of Remote Patient Monitoring
It’s no secret that the world of telemedicine has grown exponentially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Startups like Somatix are specializing in innovative remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices that provide detailed insights and unique analytics like hydration.
As the sector grows, its potential to solve long-standing health care crises and issues does as well. However, RPM has been around for years. Why has it taken until now for technology to flourish?
- Shrinking labor force
In the 2021 Mercer report, it was found that though 9.7 million people currently work in low-paying jobs in the health care sector, such as home health aides, with a growing need, more than 6.5 million workers will leave the industry in the next five years, with a lower replacement rate. Another Health Affairs study looking at nurse employment found a 2.2% decrease in hospital nursing jobs during the first fifteen months of the pandemic.
With a smaller labor force, RPM tools become more valuable and desirable to improve efficiency, especially when it comes to measuring insights such as activity levels, vitals and substance intake.
2. Technology improvements
With more recent advances in the constantly changing artificial intelligence (AI) world, the quality and accuracy of RPM devices is improving. Instead of simply collecting and measuring data, these devices also interpret it, giving out useful predictive insights as well. For example, SafeBeing™ harnesses real-time gesture detection and Big Data analytics to give patients more information about their bodies.
3. Policy shifts
Health and insurance policies are changing to finetune their RPM reimbursement policies regarding Medicaid and private payer laws.
Medicaid policies provide some reimbursement for telehealth services like RPM, but the scope of these policies varies among states. Private payer policies are those related to telehealth coverage for private insurers. Usually, these policies require coverage comparable to reimbursements for in-person visits, but this is also dependent on in-person policies, which also varies by state. During the pandemic, Congress expanded the coverage for telehealth services and enabled the proliferation and incentivization for RPM.
Regardless of the path it has taken, RPM has made strides and bounds in healthcare, and is continuing to address growing needs in the industry to improve patient care. With this technology, the future of medicine is even brighter.
