Remote Patient Monitoring Made Simple

RPM is a technology offering that enables the monitoring and collection of patients’ physiologic measures outside of a traditional healthcare environment, such as at a patient’s home or office. Finding a vendor that is able to serve as both a mentor and partner, such as CareSimple, should be one of the key steps of implementing a successful RPM program.

CCM is a coaching service provided by health care professionals to guide patients with chronic conditions in order to better understand their health and the necessary actions they can take to improve their quality of life. Having a solution that fits seamlessly within your electronic health record (EHR) can optimize the efficiency of your CCM program.

Absolutely! RPM, which was initially used by healthcare professionals to monitor patients following post-acute events, has emerged as a great complement to CCM for patients with chronic conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, COPD and asthma. The CareSimple solution supports both programs, which are reimbursed by Medicare and can be managed by the same personnel, creating more streamlined operational synergies and a better, more engaging experience for patients to improve outcomes.

RPM requires commitment and planning but with the right team and tools can be quite simple to implement and operate. CareSimple was launched with the goal of making RPM simple enough for anyone regardless of age, condition or socioeconomic status. This is accomplished by removing many of the technical challenges commonly found with alternative remote care models and provisioning technology. Offering seamless patient-to-cloud data transmission, smart alerts, effective engagement, and automatic documentation capabilities, and through integration with the EHR, patient vitals are collected and then received in near real-time from the cellular-enabled devices. This approach empowers providers with a holistic view of their patients’ health to help improve patient care.

Some of the typical patient monitoring devices are blood pressure cuffs, body scales, heart rate and pulse oximetry monitors, blood glucose monitors, spirometers, and thermometers. While they may look like any other medical device, it’s their unique, underlying connectivity that enable readings to be transmitted to healthcare professionals. While other vendors require that the devices be paired with a hub, smartphone or tablet to transmit data, this can create complexity for the providers setting up the devices, and for the patients using them on a daily basis. CareSimple cellular-enabled devices have built-in SIM cards that automatically transmit readings, meaning that no pairing, app or WiFi is needed for patients to participate. This provides a senior-friendly user experience and reduces the number of technical support problems that need to be managed.

While only physicians and non-physician practitioners (NPPs) are eligible to bill for RPM, the reimbursement rules are under general supervision, which means that services can be provided by a broader number of clinical staff. Typical RPM teams consist of medical assistants (MAs), licensed nurse practitioners (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs) and a medical supervisor (MD). When staff vacancies are an issue, CareSimple is well positioned to help payers and providers fill these clinical resource gaps with highly-trained professionals.

RPM has been shown to reduce acute care use for patients with certain chronic conditions (Systematic Review), while driving important cost reductions for employers, payers and providers engaged in risk-sharing contracts. Fee-for-service providers can also financially benefit from RPM, with Medicare reimbursing its use for post-acute and chronic patients with CPT codes 99091, 99453, 99454, 99457 and 99458. CareSimple provides monthly instructions for how to claim these codes, along with CPT codes 99490 and 99491 for CCM.

RPM empowers patients to take charge of their health, allowing them to manage their chronic condition from an environment where they are most comfortable. The CareSimple program wirelessly sends the information from a compatible medical device directly to their health file for remote review and monitoring by their provider. With that data, their care team can check on the patient’s health status and quickly make decisions on how to provide the best care moving forward, whether it be a change in a treatment plan or a medication adjustment. RPM’s regular monitoring of chronic conditions helps with keeping a patient’s measurements within range, which can prevent or delay emergency room visits and ultimately reduce costly hospital readmissions.