Remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a technology to enable monitoring of patients outside of conventional clinical settings, such as in the home or in a remote area, which may increase access to care and decrease healthcare delivery costs. RPM involves the constant remote care of patients by their physicians, often to track physical symptoms, chronic conditions, or post-hospitalization rehab.[1]

Devices like smartwatches are continually updated with new remote monitoring technologies such as heartbeat monitors.

Incorporating RPM in chronic-disease management may significantly improve an individual's quality of life, by allowing patients to maintain independence, prevent complications, and to minimize personal costs.[2] RPM facilitates these goals by delivering care through telecommunications. This form of patient monitoring can be particularly important when patients are managing complex self-care processes such as home hemodialysis.[3]

Key features of RPM, like remote monitoring and trend analysis of physiological parameters, enable early detection of deterioration; thereby reducing emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and the duration of hospital stays.[4][5][6][7] While technologies are continually being developed to tackle this type of health care, physicians may utilize basic communication methods such as Zoom, Snapchat, or even landline phones.[1]

Pilot programs for Remote Patient Monitoring began in 1970s when Kaiser Permanente created monitoring systems for rural communities in order to provide better healthcare to isolated regions.[8] Literature related to Remote Patient Monitoring suggests that interventions based on health behavior models, care pathways, and personalized coaching lead to the best outcomes.[9]

Research on the use of Remote Patient Monitoring technologies has helped determine that further development of telehealth ecosystems, in which physicians can give recommendations and means of care while also receiving transmitted health information, can lead to better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction.[10][11] Researchers also note that Remote Patient Monitoring will become more important as healthcare changes from a volume focus to a value focus.[10]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Remote Patient Monitoring has been used extensively and allowed for more fields such as psychology or cardiology to use virtual care. By 2025, the Remote Patient Monitoring industry is expected to double, due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and increased at-home care.[12] Use of Remote Patient Monitoring has been proven to ultimately provide better patient compliance and improved physician management, while decreasing costs of care.[13]

  1. ^ a b Wicklund E, ed. (4 May 2021). "How COVID-19 Affects the Telehealth, Remote Patient Monitoring Landscape". mHealthIntelligence. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  2. ^ Bayliss EA, Steiner JF, Fernald DH, Crane LA, Main DS (2003). "Descriptions of barriers to self-care by persons with comorbid chronic diseases". Annals of Family Medicine. 1 (1): 15–21. doi:10.1370/afm.4. PMC 1466563. PMID 15043175.
  3. ^ Cafazzo JA, Leonard K, Easty AC, Rossos PG, Chan CT (8 September 2008). "Bridging the self-care deficit gap: Remote patient monitoring and the hospital-at-home.". International Conference on Electronic Healthcare. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering. Vol. 0001. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 66–73. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-00413-1_8. ISBN 978-3-642-00413-1.
  4. ^ "Technologies for remote patient monitoring in older adults: Position paper" (PDF). Oakland, CA: Center for Technology and Aging. April 2010.
  5. ^ O'Donoghue J, Herbert J (2012). "Data Management within mHealth Environments: Patient Sensors, Mobile Devices, and Databases". J. Data and Information Quality. 4: 1–20. doi:10.1145/2378016.2378021. S2CID 2318649.
  6. ^ Coye MJ, Haselkorn A, DeMello S (2009). "Remote patient management: technology-enabled innovation and evolving business models for chronic disease care". Health Affairs. 28 (1): 126–35. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.28.1.126. PMID 19124862.
  7. ^ Vavilis S, Petković M, Zannone N (2012). "Impact of ICT on home healthcare" (PDF). In ICT Critical Infrastructures and Society. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 111–122.
  8. ^ Gruessner V (9 November 2015). "The History of Remote Monitoring, Telemedicine Technology". mHealthIntelligence. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  9. ^ Noah B, Keller MS, Mosadeghi S, Stein L, Johl S, Delshad S, et al. (January 2018). "Impact of remote patient monitoring on clinical outcomes: an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". npj Digital Medicine. 1 (1): 20172. doi:10.1038/s41746-017-0002-4. PMC 6550143. PMID 31304346.
  10. ^ a b Riaz MS, Atreja A (December 2016). "Personalized Technologies in Chronic Gastrointestinal Disorders: Self-monitoring and Remote Sensor Technologies". Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 14 (12): 1697–1705. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2016.05.009. PMC 5108695. PMID 27189911.
  11. ^ Ong MK, Romano PS, Edgington S, Aronow HU, Auerbach AD, Black JT, et al. (March 2016). "Effectiveness of Remote Patient Monitoring After Discharge of Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure: The Better Effectiveness After Transition -- Heart Failure (BEAT-HF) Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA Internal Medicine. 176 (3): 310–8. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.7712. PMC 4827701. PMID 26857383.
  12. ^ Jercich K (5 August 2020). "RPM market will double in next five years, predict stakeholders". Healthcare IT News. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  13. ^ Kuhn K, Warren J, Leong TZ, eds. (2007). Medinfo 2007. IOS Press. ISBN 978-1-58603-774-1.