In the past decade, the world of medicine has been witness to many changes. With the advancements of technology and especially its use in the healthcare industry, people’s behavior towards personal health changed. Patients used to go see doctors and get scans only if vitally necessary or for surgeries, and now people get blood tests and X-ray scans for non-emergent issues.
This rising concern for personal health started to gain traction after the COVID-19 pandemic. That is precisely the time when remote patient monitoring (RPM) experienced a boom.
Just in 2020 because of the pandemic, the global telehealth market grew 135.2%. Experts project that from 2021’s $90.74 billion the market will grow to $636.38 billion by 2028. What this article is here to show you is exactly what part of this unimaginable growth RPM was responsible for. It provides an in-depth overview of the technology to help you understand its functionality. You will also learn about the benefits of RPM, the challenges it presents, and practical strategies for healthcare providers to address these obstacles.What is Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)?
What is Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
The definition of RPM by the U.S. Government Accountability Office is the following:
“Remote patient monitoring refers to a coordinated system that uses one or more home-based or mobile monitoring devices that transmit vital sign data or information on activities of daily living that are subsequently reviewed by a healthcare professional.”
In this case, it is to be considered that RPM is applicable by both patients who cannot go to their doctors personally but also ones that have already been discharged and need to be monitored further.
Patients can play a more active role in managing their health through remote therapeutic monitoring. This approach allows them to participate in their care while they stay at a safe distance. This ensures their treatment remains consistent and effective.
How RPM technology works
Even though we gave you the definition and an RPM’s structural parts, we have yet to explain exactly how all of that technology combines with the people using it to create the entire system.
There are a couple of steps needed in order for the whole process to function smoothly:
- The healthcare provider first identifies the conditions that need to be monitored remotely and creates a program specific to that patient.
- When the plan is ready, it is usually discussed with a patient to get their consent.
- Then they are provided with the needed devices.
- The remote patient monitoring devices transmit the patient health data that they have gathered to the healthcare providers utilizing the Internet.
- This process happens instantly or at scheduled times throughout the day. If a patient’s data indicates an emergency or significant change, doctors can review it immediately and take action.
- Providers run an analysis of the information they have received and give patients individual assistance and advice according to the results. Thus they can manage patient care better.
It is valuable to mention that there are other steps doctors will have to go through before setting the whole chain up. They must first find the patients and acquire the needed devices.
Afterwards, they have to set up the necessary programs for the individuals and develop policies to safeguard everything. They will also have to include additional staff that has to be trained in the procedures and technology.
Even though we gave you the definition and an RPM’s structural parts, we have yet to explain exactly how all of that technology combines with the people using it to create the entire system.
There are a couple of steps needed in order for the whole process to function smoothly:
- The healthcare provider first identifies the conditions that need to be monitored remotely and creates a program specific to that patient.
- When the plan is ready, it is usually discussed with a patient to get their consent.
- Then they are provided with the needed devices.
- The remote patient monitoring devices transmit the patient health data that they have gathered to the healthcare providers utilizing the Internet.
- This process happens instantly or at scheduled times throughout the day. If a patient’s data indicates an emergency or significant change, doctors can review it immediately and take action.
- Providers run an analysis of the information they have received and give patients individual assistance and advice according to the results. Thus they can manage patient care better.
It is valuable to mention that there are other steps doctors will have to go through before setting the whole chain up. They must first find the patients and acquire the needed devices.
Afterwards, they have to set up the necessary programs for the individuals and develop policies to safeguard everything. They will also have to include additional staff that has to be trained in the procedures and technology.
Key components of RPM systems
RPM relies on both hardware and software components to keep running. Together, these parts allow patients to track their health at home while keeping their doctors informed.
Here’s a closer look at each of these core components and how they work together to make RPM effective:
- Monitoring Devices: These devices measure vital health metrics, including blood pressure, glucose levels, oxygen saturation, weight, and more. Common examples include blood pressure monitors,continuous glucose monitors, pulse oximeters for blood oxygen levels, or weight scales. Most devices connect via Bluetooth or cellular networks for seamless data transfer.
- Data Transmission Technology: This technology ensures the data collected from monitoring devices reaches healthcare providers. Data is transmitted using cellular networks, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.
- Data Analysis Software: This software reviews incoming health data, filtering out normal readings and flagging anomalies that require attention.
- Patient Portals or Apps: Patients can log into these platforms using smartphones or computers to view their health data. These tools often display trends, such as changes in blood pressure or weight, and may offer educational resources to help patients understand and manage their conditions better.
- Healthcare Provider Dashboard: This interface allows doctors to monitor multiple patients simultaneously. It displays real-time health data, highlights urgent issues, and provides historical trends to help identify potential problems. Providers can use this information to make personalized care recommendations.
- Communication Tools: Effective RPM relies on clear communication between patients and medical professionals. Many systems include options such as text messaging, video calls, or phone calls to facilitate ongoing interaction and support.
These key components work together to make remote patient monitoring services possible. With each piece, RPM gives patients more control over their health and helps healthcare organizations deliver efficient, proactive care remotely.
Benefits of RPM for patients
A well-functioning remote patient monitoring platform brings many benefits to patients:
- Improved Health Understanding and Outcomes: Patients gain detailed insights into their health conditions and metrics. This knowledge helps them better understand their situations and achieve improved clinical outcomes.
- Immediate Access to Healthcare Providers: RPM enables patients to contact healthcare providers quickly without the need for in-person hospital visits. This convenience allows for timely assistance and reduces healthcare costs by eliminating expenses related to clinic visits.
- Enhanced Patient Engagement: Patients become more involved in their own care as they actively participate in gathering and monitoring health data. This increased engagement fosters a greater sense of control over their well-being.
- Reduced Risk of Hospital-Acquired Infections: By using RPM devices at home, patients can minimize hospital visits. This limits their exposure to infections, making it easier to stay protected while managing their health.
In consideration of the benefits of remote patient monitoring, we have to also mention that a lot of insurance companies have policies precisely for remote monitoring and can therefore provide financial aid for patients using this new technology.
But there is no need to worry as nurses can still be a big part of remote patient monitoring. There will be nurses who monitor patients and can take immediate action in response to the physiological data they receive through the RPM devices.
Benefits of RPM for healthcare providers
These nurses, physician assistants, or other qualified healthcare professionals also benefit largely from the implementation of RPM, as their work is significantly streamlined.
Healthcare professionals, including nurses, physician assistants, and other qualified providers, gain many advantages from implementing remote patient monitoring (RPM):
- Streamlined Workflow: RPM simplifies the work of healthcare practitioners by automating data collection and providing an efficient way to monitor patient status.
- Access to Detailed Health Data: Practitioners can review comprehensive patient health information and take precise steps to improve patient outcomes.
- Improved Patient Adherence: RPM devices track medication adherence and reduce the risk of noncompliance. This fosters better patient self-care and leads to improved patient outcomes.
- Faster Response to Health Changes: By detecting small changes in vital signs quickly, practitioners can act promptly to prevent complications, reduce hospital readmissions, and enhance patient outcomes.
- Cost Savings and Resource Allocation: Hospitals can redirect resources previously used for patient data gathering and maintaining hospital space. This leads to significant cost savings, particularly during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, where RPM helps reduce the transmission risk of infectious diseases and frees up resources for critically ill patients.
- Better Chronic Disease Management: RPM facilitates frequent and convenient monitoring for the purposes of chronic care management, thus leading to improved disease control compared to in-person visits.
- Support from Medicaid Services: Many U.S. states now include Medicaid coverage for RPM, making it an accessible tool for managing chronic care patients.
The benefits of remote patient monitoring for the professional side cover all aspects of the healthcare operational process – from biometric data collection to finance. The ones that are easiest to see however are the direct benefits to specific patients and their improvement. Through RPM many conditions can be treated better and outcomes can significantly improve.
Types of health conditions monitored by RPM
Remote Patient Monitoring supports the management of various chronic and long-term health conditions through the application of its devices.
Here are some of the key conditions monitored through RPM:
- Hypertension (High Blood Pressure): Blood pressure monitoring sends regular readings to doctors. They can adjust treatments and reduce the risk of serious events like strokes.
- Diabetes: Continuous glucose monitoring devices track blood sugar levels. Doctors then can fine-tune medication and reduce the risk of complications.
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Pulse oximeters monitor blood oxygen levels for patients suffering from COPD, so treatment can be adjusted if breathing worsens.
- Congestive Heart Failure (CHF): Remote patient monitoring devices track heart rate, blood pressure, and weight to detect any signs of worsening heart failure, which can prevent readmissions.
- Asthma: RPM uses peak flow meters to monitor lung function. A peak flow meter, which measures lung function, can help doctors assess asthma control and make timely medication adjustments
- Sleep Disorders: Sleep monitors track patterns and breathing disturbances, supporting treatments like CPAP for sleep apnea.
- Obesity and Weight Management: Smart scales and activity trackers monitor weight and fitness. This can assist patients in managing obesity and achieving health goals.
- Mental Health: Some wearables track physical indicators like heart rate and sleep quality. This info can be used to improve remote physiologic monitoring services for conditions like anxiety or depression.
With continuous data, healthcare providers can personalize care plans and address health concerns proactively, which brings up the elephant in the room. How does RPM data collection and analysis work?
Data collection and analysis in RPM
As opposed to in person care, all patient generated data is collected in real time through sensing. Each device at home sends this data through secure internet connections to a central database, where healthcare providers can access it.
Some devices send medical data instantly, while others gather information throughout the day and transmit it at scheduled times. This automation minimizes the need for manual data entry and reduces human error, ensuring that healthcare providers receive accurate, timely data.
After gathering data, RPM devices transmit it to a secure, centralized database or electronic health record (EHR) system. This database serves as a repository for each patient’s health information, organizing data into readable, timestamped records.
Once data reaches the centralized database, analysis software steps in to process it. The remote patient monitoring software reviews each reading and highlights unusual values. For instance, if the blood pressure readings are higher than normal, the system alerts the healthcare team. This process allows providers to quickly catch changes that could signal health risks and respond before issues escalate.
Data analysis software also tracks patterns over time. This ability helps doctors see trends in a patient’s condition and adjust treatments more precisely. This functionality is particularly valuable for chronic disease management, where gradual shifts can indicate improvements or worsening symptoms
Many RPM systems use machine learning algorithms to go beyond real-time monitoring through the prediction of potential health changes. With enough historical data, these algorithms can identify patterns that indicate future risks, such as an increased likelihood of hospitalization. If a patient’s vital signs start trending in a specific direction, the system can predict the probability of future health complications.
Ensuring data security and privacy in RPM
The fact that RPM involves the handling of so much sensitive health data makes security and privacy essential. Safeguarding this information protects patients from data breaches and misuse, while also fostering trust in remote patient monitoring technology.
Here’s how the healthcare industry ensures data security and privacy in RPM systems.
Data encryption during transmission and storage
When а medical device collects patient data, it converts it into unreadable code before transmission. Only the intended recipient, such as a healthcare provider, has the encryption key to decode and view the information.
Encryption continues to protect data once it reaches storage. Whether in electronic health records or centralized databases, encrypted data remains secure even if hackers attempt to breach the system.
The encrypted data can be accessed only by specific individuals after multi-factor authentication (MFA) or through a role-based access control (RBAC) system.
Secure data transmission protocols
RPM systems use secure data transmission protocols, such as HTTPS, SSL, and TLS, which prevent data from being intercepted during transfer.
Additionally, some RPM systems rely on dedicated, secure networks instead of public internet connections.
Data Anonymization and De-Identification
In certain cases, healthcare providers de-identify or anonymize patient data.
De-identification removes personal details like name and address, while anonymization further transforms data to prevent identification altogether. Both methods make data safer when used for healthcare research or analytics, as they protect individual patient identities even if a breach occurs.
By combining all with legal regulations, RPM systems uphold high standards of data security and privacy. These security measures build a foundation of trust, enabling patients and providers to use RPM confidently and securely for better health outcomes.
Upgrade the patient care your provide with RPM technology Contact BGO Software specialists to find out how the specific needs of your healthcare practice can be met by tailoring and adapting the existing RPM technology.
Implementation strategies for RPM programs
Successfully launching Remote patient monitoring requires thoughtful planning and coordination. Healthcare providers must establish efficient workflows, choose reliable technology, train staff, and ensure patient readiness.
Here are some key strategies to set up and run an effective RPM program and the questions you need to answer before choosing your approach.
What remote monitoring services do you want to offer?
It is quite important to first establish what services your organization provides exactly.
Of course, there can be a wide variety of services and things you can monitor and provide medical guidance for, but it is not uncommon to see professionals focus on specific conditions.
For example, endocrinologists would utilize blood glucose meters while cardiologists would be more suited to monitoring the patient’s blood pressure and weight.
Who will support you through the development of this massive project?
You should find the right healthcare IT partner to work with because the success of the whole RPM project depends on your productive relationship. Take some time to thoroughly research and evaluate potential partners to find the one that is the best fit for your needs.
Here are a few specific skills and qualities you need to look for:
- Reliability: You want to work with a software development company that you can rely on to deliver high-quality work on time and within budget. Therefore, you should search for a company with a proven record of successful projects and a strong reputation in the industry.
- Expertise: A reliable healthcare software development company will have a team of experienced professionals with the required skills and knowledge in digital health tech to provide insights and recommendations.
- Communication: You should clearly articulate your goals and expectations, and your IT partner should be able to provide regular updates on the progress of the project. It is also noteworthy to mention that depending on how easy or how difficult the system is to use by the patients and the practitioners very much goes to the success of the whole thing. If your doctors or patients find the system difficult to use, it won’t find any success.
Which RPM services suit your healthcare organization?
The type of service your RPM health system utilizes will be very important to how the entire remote patient monitoring program functions.
To help you with that, here are some explanations of the different service types you can direct your system with:
- The first option is a full-service program where a contract is made with a vendor for the healthcare organization to receive the devices and redistribute them to patients or for the vendor to supply the patients directly.
- The second option for a remote patient monitoring system is a self-managed program. Here the organization itself has to manage the supply of devices and it has to provide technical support for patients. Where do you get your remote patient monitoring equipment from?
It is vital to consider the vendors you are getting all the equipment from. Many vendors require your organization to use only their devices and are not compatible with ones from other manufacturers.
Furthermore, different vendors ship the equipment to either the individual patients or to your organization directly, in which case you will have to set up the whole shipping line to get the necessary equipment to your patients.
And lastly, it is very important to know if the particular vendor offers technical remote support for the medical devices and equipment or at least some kind of training on how they are used and managed.
Overcoming challenges in RPM adoption
The entire process may as well encounter challenges, but none that cannot be solved.
One such challenge would be the technological limitation of patients and patient populations. Some patients struggle with remote patient monitoring devices due to a lack of tech skills or poor internet access. You should find the right IT partner to work with, who can set up easy-to-use devices and offer technical support. A reliable partner can manage devices that work with cellular networks or offline, and provide assistance for setup and troubleshooting,
Moreover, that partner can help you overcome regulatory and licensing barriers. As remote patient monitoring solutions operate across state and country borders, many such issues arise. Providers may face obstacles related to licensing requirements, data privacy laws, or telehealth regulations that vary by region. Partnering with advisors who understand RPM-specific requirements and maintaining an adaptable RPM policy can help providers stay compliant.
In some cases, lobbying for clearer and more unified regulations can also support RPM growth by streamlining cross-regional medical care. In this way, remote patient monitoring companies can also address privacy concerns. The right IT partner can guarantee the multiple layers of security that is required by those regulations and train the staff on data privacy best practices
For remote patient monitoring programs to work, patients need to regularly use digital medical devices and share accurate data. Some patients may initially struggle to engage with RPM due to unfamiliarity or because they find the routine inconvenient. If patients do not consistently participate, the value of RPM significantly decreases.
Building a strong communication framework encourages ongoing patient satisfaction and engagement. Providers can establish regular check-ins, set up reminders via text or app notifications, and even offer incentives for consistent participation. Educating patients on the clinical benefits of RPM in managing their conditions can also motivate them to adhere to the program.
Enhance the healthcare delivery of your practice with digital health technology Explore all the ways through which remote patient monitoring technology can benefit your practice and your patient’s outcomes.
Rising innovations in RPM
Remote Patient Monitoring is rapidly evolving with technological advancements that are improving patient care and enhancing the overall healthcare experience.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are playing a crucial role in enhancing RPM health systems by analyzing vast amounts of patient data.
These technologies can better identify patterns and predict health risks and bring all their benefits earlier. This integration is particularly beneficial for patients in remote or underserved areas, where access to healthcare may be limited. AI telemedicine, combined with RPM, ensures patients receive timely care, even from a distance, and makes healthcare more flexible and accessible
Innovation also occurs in the security sector. Blockchain technology, known for its use in cryptocurrencies, is being explored for ensuring secure, transparent data sharing in RPM. Blockchain is a decentralized, tamper-resistant ledger system that stores information across multiple computers in such a way that no single entity controls the data. Each “block” of information is linked to previous blocks, creating a chain that is nearly impossible to alter without detection.
In the context of RPM, blockchain can be used to securely store patient data. By using blockchain, healthcare providers can expand access to a clear, transparent record of patient data without the risk of it being tampered with or corrupted. Furthermore, blockchain’s immutable nature ensures that once data is recorded, it cannot be altered or deleted without leaving a trace. This creates a reliable and auditable record of a patient’s health journey.
As this article has shown, when healthcare providers monitor patients remotely, they can surely reap many great benefits. Whatever challenges RPM poses can be solved and managed. That is why medical providers should invest in the goal of achieving innovation in the field of patient care.
But innovation works only when it is built on a solid foundation. The only way to absolutely ensure it is to have a trusted partner with more than 10 years of experience in the healthcare system that can provide efficient software solutions meeting industry standards.
Reach out to BGO Software today and let u help you with planning, developing, and implementing a remote patient monitoring solution that works for you and your patients!
