In today’s fast-paced world, traditional healthcare approaches are inadequate to meet the demands for healthcare services. COVID19 has forced the medical industry to look for smarter solutions to eliminate or restrict physical interactions for healthcare services.This has brought focus to Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), which is a powerful aspect of the Telehealth revolution.
Remote Patient Monitoring makes the healthcare system more accessible, reliable, and convenient for patients and healthcare providers.RPM can not only replace in-person care entirely but can also alleviate the burden placed on providers and patients for healthcare.
What is Remote Patient Monitoring?
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) enables healthcare providers to monitor patients outside the clinical environment. This is significant for chronic disease management, improving healthcare access for elderly, rural areas, and patients with mobility issues.The primary goal of Remote Patient Monitoring is to improve healthcare outcomes, efficiency, and reduce healthcare costs.
Utilizing digital technologies to collect and distribute information has made a significant contribution to disease prevention and treatment.Remote patient monitoring systems employ a range of devices such as implantables, biosensors, blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, and pulse oximetry to gather patient data remotely.
Remote Patient Monitoring offers several offline and online services for real-time monitoring and assistance. There are sensors attached to the patient’s body that gather real-time data and keep sending it to the remote repository. Patients can also measure and share essential health data using different medical devices. The regular health checkups are replaced with round-the-clock monitoring, and qualified healthcare professionals regularly analyze the data.
Benefits of Remote Patient Monitoring Solutions
Technology has transformed the field of medicine, as we can see in the likes of RPM solutions. RPM technology has changed the way healthcare is being delivered across the globe, especially in developing countries.
Remote Patient Monitoring solutions are useful because they mitigate time and location barriers and allow patients to manage their disease under constant medical supervision. Below are some benefits of Remote Patient Monitoring for patients and healthcare providers.
For Healthcare Providers
- Healthcare providers can remotely assist patients in managing chronic health conditions, including weight management and nutrition counseling.
- Reduction in hospitalizations, the costs involved.
- With virtual consultations, the hospitals are less crowded, which ensures social distancing. It reduces staff exposure to infected patients and preserves personal protective equipment. It will also reduce the Emergency Department’s workload.
- RPM saves time and increases the overall capacity for healthcare facilities and physicians to treat more patients. With better resource management, healthcare providers can avoid negative outcomes of delayed preventive, chronic, or routine care.
- Virtual healthcare helps provide better primary care for follow-ups, getting a second opinion, and pre screening.
- Healthcare providers have easy access to the patient’s data and can remotely adjust the treatment plan for patients based on individual needs.
- RPM solution facilitates preventive care using reminders for patients to walk, exercise, or take medications, which is better than reactionary care.
For Patients
- Remote Patient Monitoring programs reduce costs associated with chronic illnesses.
- Better disease management and control for patients with heart disease, dementia, diabetes, and cancer. The daily symptom reports or questionnaires help in timely detection and intervention in case the patient’s health deteriorates.
- The medical devices can remotely monitor vital signs for organ transplant patients after surgery. This also helps them comply with the aftercare and achieve healthcare targets.
- Improved medication compliance,patients wear a sensor that detects and records their medication intakes, and hospital care providers track adherence in real-time.
- Ensures access to essential health services during an epidemic.
- The patient can connect with doctors from any location; this eliminates the limitations of regional facilities.
- A virtual consultation or remote monitoring saves wait times associated with in-person visits since more patients are treated in less time.
- Compared to self-monitoring, RPM is more effective in controlling systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).
- Bluetooth-enabled glucose meters make it easier for Diabetes patients to monitor blood glucose. The measurement is automatically sent to the electronic medical record.
- Overall improved quality of care
Several telehealth solutions are available in the market that offers remote monitoring and virtual consultations. Healthcare providers can utilize them to enhance the healthcare experience for their patients.
RPMAhealthcare is a comprehensive and robust telemedicine and remote patient monitoring solution for healthcare professionals, clinics, hospitals, and businesses aiming to provide remote care for patients.The solution is customized based on the doctor and the individual patient requirements.
RPMAhealthcare is a mature and scalable RPM solution with 8 years of full scale production deployment across EU, handling millions of patients &10th of Millions of records collected. RPMAhealthcare is both Disease-agnostic&Device-agnostic, supporting any individual patients needs.
Key Features include: Preconfigured high ROI conditions, +40 Patient’s Indicators, Support for CO-Morbidity, Integration with any EHR/EMR &ISO 13485-2016 Certified.
The platform provides clinically proven patient pathways for patients suffering from COPD, CHF, and Diabetes. It offers treatment as well as lifestyle management services to empower the patients to control their own treatment.