Remote patient monitoring (RPM) uses digital technologies to collect medical and other forms of health data from individuals. The collected data is electronically transmitted from one location, securely to health care providers in a different location for assessment and recommendations.
Monitoring programs collect a wide range of health data such as vital signs, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and electrocardiograms. Recipients include health professionals in facilities such as monitoring centers in primary care settings, hospitals and intensive care units, skilled nursing facilities, and centralized off-site case management programs. Once received, health professionals monitor these patients remotely and act on the information received as part of their treatment plan.
Remote Monitoring Improves Access to Providers
Monitoring programs can also help keep people healthy, allow older and disabled individuals to live at home longer and avoid having to move into skilled nursing facilities. RPM can also serve to reduce the number of hospitalizations, readmissions, and lengths of stay in hospitals—all of which help improve quality of life and limit costs.
RPM (also known as remote patient management), bridges the gap between the traditional physical setting of healthcare and where people live every day. By using devices patients of all age groups are familiar with such as smartphones and tablets patients feel comfortable with this method to manage their own health.
Empowers Patients and Doctors
Naturally, this comfort with technology increases engagement levels and help improve quality of care. As a result, patients are motivated to engage in their own health care. Physicians and other health care professionals are also better equipped to understand and manage the patient’s health situations. In turn, RPM gives physicians a constant stream of data which shows what’s actually occurring with their patients as it happens.
Monitoring programs are tools to help improve patient outcomes and access to care, to make health care systems more cost effective.
Source: Center for Connected Health Policy, Care Innovations
