The Rise of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
Typically, doctors can undertake the monitoring process when a patient is on the verge of being admitted to a hospital or other care setting. Many people visit their physicians only when things get worse, and then, if necessary, they get admitted to the hospital. Particularly for chronically ill and emergency patients, this delay can be life-threatening. With remote patient monitoring (RPM), doctors and healthcare providers can collect information about their patients' health via mobile devices.
The remote patient monitoring technology was already in place before the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, it has become an even more prominent option for both patients and doctors due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. Also, digital health care technology has increased significantly among hospitals. RPM utilizes gadgets such as wearables and trackers that collect valuable information about a patient's health. The patient data is transferred to the doctor with the help of a cloud application. Meanwhile, doctors can save data from tracking and later generate insights in the patient's database.
Technology has enabled hospitals and healthcare organizations to free up beds with various solutions. As reported by the Veterans Administration, healthcare organizations have seen a 25% reduction in bed days and a 19% reduction in hospital admissions. Modern equipment integrated with mobile monitoring apps positively impacts patient care, reducing organizational costs and increasing ROI. Remote patient monitoring has become a popular method of managing chronic conditions among seniors and improving outcomes. RPM reduces travel expenses and eliminates travel, facilitating virtual consultations between healthcare providers and patients.
Similarly, RPM provides real-time information regarding how patients are treated. Doctors will decide which patients require urgent attention based on real-time data about the patient's health. It would be impossible to achieve impeccable healthcare IT infrastructure without the assistance of remote patient management.
Key Stats of Remote Patient Monitoring
The American Medical Association reported that 9 out of 10 healthcare providers had adopted remote patient monitoring technologies since 2019. Digital health is playing a significant role in uplifting the online healthcare industry. According to reports, the online healthcare industry will grow at 28.5% by 2027. Meanwhile, some other stats suggest that by 2024, 30 million US patients will be using RPM tools. With remote patient monitoring technology, the online healthcare industry can reduce the number of outpatient visits and improve workflow. In 2025, the market is expected to reach USD 11 7.1 billion at a CAGR of 38.2%.
Additionally, digital health analytics play a crucial role in patient monitoring. Data and insights from digital health analytics can enhance patient experience and measure a patient's health through various technologies such as Big Data and AI.
Benefits for Healthcare Providers
Valuable Investment
For the medical industry, RPM would be an asset. The significant benefit of investing in an RPM system is that it helps reduce hospital readmissions and emergency room visits. It also reduces the cost of chronic disease management. Doctors can quickly identify vague symptoms and more severe health conditions with all vital signs monitored around the clock. Healthcare providers can save up to 65% on running their practices by offering remote monitoring solutions.
Chronic condition management
The use of remote patient monitoring is likely to increase with the numerous benefits to healthcare providers and chronic patients. Approximately 45 per cent of the US population suffers from a chronic disease. 75% of the healthcare costs attributes to chronic conditions and long-term ailments. Monitoring patients remotely can drastically reduce the cost of collecting various patient-generated data, such as blood pressure and blood level. Health providers can analyse these data to determine how much attention chronic patients require based on their current state.
Reduce the burden on healthcare
When the healthcare system is under tremendous pressure, tech-driven tools and consumer-generated data will be efficiently used by managing the growing workforce. 65% of healthcare professionals have highlighted the importance of using such technologies to reduce the burden on healthcare staff at various organizational levels. Therefore, healthcare staff can also analyze the data from their remote locations to manage their patients.
Optimum outcomes for patients
RPM will play a considerable role even after the global crisis ends in reaching out to remote places without travelling to the clinics for routine medical care. Those living in rural areas can also use these technologies to consult with medical specialists safely and in-time. For example, patients with chronic heart disease or diabetes can be monitored remotely from their homes using remote patient monitoring devices.
Grow your practice overall
Despite the minor investment, the returns could be phenomenal. Monitoring patients remotely can improve patient outcomes and boost your practice over time. During these challenging times, the focus is on reducing long queues and reducing patients' waiting time. In addition, a remote patient monitoring system will enhance patient satisfaction and hospital loyalty. 52% of the patients surveyed by the Consumer Technology Association were satisfied with remote patient monitoring.
Benefits for Patients
Access to better remote healthcare
The RPM platform gives patients real-time access to their health data. In this way, they are always up-to-date with their healthcare provider through a mobile app, which they can also use to create reports or prescriptions.
More knowledge about personal health
Patients find virtual reports and prescriptions easier to access than virtual copies. RPM also offers a mobile app that helps patients understand their health better. Patients can also book an appointment with a physician and consult them anytime or chat online.
Less travel time
Remote patient monitoring reduces travel. Patients living far from their healthcare centres have better access to healthcare with RPM.
Lowers the Risk of Infection (Healthcare-acquired infections - HAIs)
A healthcare-acquired infection (HAI) is an infection that a patient acquires while receiving care from healthcare professionals. HAIs contracted through hospital equipment such as ventilators and catheters. Infections can also occur during surgical procedures. While all patients in hospitals are susceptible to HAIs, some are at a greater risk. Remote patient monitoring can reduce, if not eliminate, this threat. HAIs are much less likely to occur in patients receiving care at home using devices that are not shared.
Strengthens Doctor-patient Relationship
Medical professionals are at a high risk of occupational burnout due to the stressful nature of their work. This syndrome reduces work efficiency and motivation, which negatively impacts patient outcomes. The use of remote patient monitoring can also reduce physician workloads and improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery by automating processes and offloading several time-consuming manual tasks.
As a result of remote patient monitoring, healthcare is becoming more patient-centric instead of provider-centric. In addition to traditional in-person visits, virtual patient engagement, continuous patient monitoring, medical record reviews, educational information, and helpful reminders are now a part of healthcare.
The Rise of Remote Patient Monitoring
Many expect mobile technology advancements to spur the growth of Remote Monitoring Solutions by 10% or more in the next few years. Patients are now receiving care beyond the usual in-person visit, including virtual engagement, ongoing monitoring, review of their medical records, educational information, helpful reminders, and more. There is a rapid change in the remote monitoring market, and elements such as ambient intelligence, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc., are set to take remote monitoring solutions to the next level. Contact ACL Digital for more information.