Remote Patient Monitoring is a subgroup of telehealth and uses technology to track patients data outside of the standard healthcare settings such as offices, clinics, and hospitals. RPM gathers information on the patient no matter where they are or what they’re doing and transmits the records to the patient’s healthcare provider. The goal of this technology is to reduce costs and provide proactive care while allowing patients to go about their daily lives while tracking their healthcare outcomes.
Many people, when they think of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) think of all of the benefits that the services have for clinicians and physicians, such as lower risk for burnout for their staff, lower costs, higher efficiency, and better quality healthcare, but maybe you’re wondering what benefits are there for patients with these services and if there even is any at all? The short answer is yes; there are several reasons why patients should consider using RPM and the many benefits they can get from it. With that said, there are many more benefits likely to emerge as the years go by with the consistent technological advances in the medical field.
Patient Benefits of Using Remote Patient Monitoring
While this technology was becoming increasingly popular over the years to help reduce wait time in doctors offices and health patients lead healthier and happier lives without constant visits to their doctor, Covid-19 showed an even bigger increase to wait times. As a result, many physicians are pushing for RPM as a solution to offering quality healthcare while keeping non-emergency situations out of the office as much as possible. From the perspective of patients, there are numerous reasons why they should consider RPM as well.
Better Access
Around the country, there has been an increase in healthcare insurance among people and has made it difficult for patients to access caregivers. Once they are able to make an appointment, the wait times are usually very long and make for an all day trip to the doctors office. RPM increases the capacity for physicians to treat more patients and expands access to healthcare for patients who either cannot stay at the doctor’s office all day long or cannot manage to get in to see a physician at all.
Improved Management of Chronic Conditions
A large portion of the patients regularly seen in physicians’ offices are those with chronic conditions. These account for a large part of the healthcare costs around the nation and many of them are preventable if the patient had better access to the proper care. Even those that are not preventable can be better managed with RPM. Remote patient monitoring can improve the management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure, and more with a collection of data and analysis of data related to their condition. When patients know what these numbers are and what they mean it can help them hit their targets and start improving their overall health.
Reduced Emergent Situations and Readmissions
Patients with chronic conditions often are stuck with consistent hospital and doctor visits as well as emergent situations depending on their condition, and these can all add up to a significant amount of money needed for them to keep healthy. Remote patient monitoring helps patients measure their numbers within range, such as their blood sugar for example, and reduce risks of experiencing a serious and costly emergency situation.
Improvement to Overall Health Practices
RPM can help catch values that are out-of-range that can be dangerous and help the patient identify trends that need to change. It can also aid in changing the care regimen, offer coaching on daily choices such as physical activity that many patients often push to the back-burner due to their lack of time.
Increased Patient Accountability
Patients are kept more accountable for their health and the choices they make that are contributing to their poor health. Some patients experience serious conditions as a result of not knowing their bad habits or simply not caring, and RPm can help open their eyes to what needs to be done for them to live long and healthy lives.
Patient-Centered Healthcare
For patients using RPM they often report the collaborative effort between them and their physician to better their health. Their call isn’t about making the physician more money or about getting the patient in and out of the office as fast as possible, instead the physician can focus on providing patients with quality care and making them the center of their treatment solutions.
Assurance
One of the best benefits that can come from patients using RPM to track their health is improved comfort and engagement from their physicians, as well as assurance that an experienced professional is watching out for their health on a daily basis. There are a lot of patients who have problems with their heart or blood pressure, and watching their heartbeat on a monitor in the hospital for days or even weeks can be scary. RPM technology allows for this bridge to be gapped and for that connection to be made between the physician and the patient so they can feel like the healthcare team is home with them. Even when people know what they are watching for with their own health, they may not know exactly what to do when something goes wrong, and having a physician in their pocket watching their health can help bring them peace of mind.
Better Quality of Care
Not only can patients contact their caregivers more easily with RPM, but the quality of the care they receive is improved. As a patient, it can feel like you’re just a number or just a name on a paper when the physician’s office is full and you’re waiting to see. The staff may rush through your visit and may even miss things as a result of trying to see as many patients as possible. RPM connects clinicians more directly and provides relevant data on the patient so their daily routines are more efficient, and the patient doesn’t feel like they are in a factory and being pushed through the line. Many patients who have used RPM feel more comfortable and familiar than attending their office visits in person. RPM also takes a group effort between the patients and the physicians to manage the patient’s health, which can help the patient to pay more attention and stay engaged in their own health. Patients will benefit by wanting to improve their health and learning how to do so.
Improved Support, Feedback, and Education
The increased connectivity between patients and caregivers helps patients to expand their levels of education, support, and feedback about their health compared to traditional models of healthcare. Some patients need extra support and extra feedback to stay on top of their health and it’s important that they are able to read the information from their monitoring records to make changes accordingly.
Learn More About CareXM Today
Using CAreXM remote patient monitoring services will provide you with all of these benefits and more and help you on your journey to a healthier and happier life.
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