Consider patient care and monitoring solutions to empower your healthcare service quality. Find out why your business needs these innovations.
Providing high-quality medical care requires the close cooperation of many entities. It is expensive and time-consuming. An aging society, a growing number of chronically ill patients, and medical staff shortages make it more and more difficult. At times, it is impossible. We also have another serious problem. Patients with chronic illnesses often improve while they are in the hospital, but many struggle after being discharged to maintain their health and adhere to their care plan. Up to 25% of these patients end up readmitted. These often preventable readmissions mean significant costs and resources for hospitals and providers, while each patient should receive the same care and attention outside the hospital as they do in the hospital.
In today’s healthcare system, providers aren’t able to spend as much time with patients as they would like, and patients with chronic illnesses require a level of direct treatment.
Since value-based care aims to reduce readmissions, shorten hospital stays and improve outcomes, a solution is necessary to effectively monitor and engage high-risk patients outside the confines of the hospital.
Modern patient care and monitoring solutions keep patients and their care teams continuously in touch to coordinate treatment and manage complex illnesses with ease. Patients are provided with an easy-to-use home health set consisting, for example, of a mobile app, which can be installed on a tablet and integrated measuring devices.
Special intuitive apps have measurement and medicine reminders as well as individually prepared surveys. It also facilitates rapid contact with medical staff in the event of an emergency. What is more, users can enter measurements manually using their tested equipment. The device can also be deployed for multi-user purposes. For example, in nursing homes or by health visitors. The advanced RPM platforms allow caretakers to continuously monitor patients by collecting all of the data from home health apps receiving customized alerts based on patient status viewing their health history and quickly intervening when necessary.
Capturing accurate respiration data, for example, is vital, but it can also be a challenge. In the US alone, there are more than 6 million high-risk patients and med-surg units. Respiratory compromise on the general care floor increases hospital stays by a crazy 180%. Vital sign monitors allow us to properly monitor respiratory rates from simple spot checks to continuous monitoring with centralized remote viewing. And reading takes less than a minute, as a rule. This is the way to smarter and more informed clinical decisions. For patients at higher risk due to age, heavy medication use, etc., they guarantee proactive monitoring day and night, seven days a week.
Not Only At Home. The example of the pressure injury issue
Despite a growing emphasis placed on prevention pressure issues, for example, injuries continue to be among the most common preventable hospital-acquired conditions, and in the US they have been rising. To prevent pressure injuries, a widely used standard of care is to turn high-risk patients at least every two hours day and night. Adhering to these turn protocols is becoming even more of a challenge. The latest international guidelines for pressure injury prevention recommend that every patient be prescribed an individualized turning protocol based on each patient’s level of activity and ability to independently reposition.
With limited time, resources, and conflicting priorities, it can be an ongoing challenge for healthcare to maintain adherence to multiple rotating schedules. Measure turn, adequacy, and efficacy, and document all turn events. Studies have shown that despite their efforts, the staff is typically only able to keep up with turning schedules less than 50 percent of the time. This inability to keep up comes at a cost. Patients with hospital-acquired pressure injuries spend an average of nine and a half days more in the hospital and experience a higher risk of readmission compared to those without pressure injuries.
A simple reminder is a great preventive tool, and remote patient monitoring solution providers save lives nowadays. Modern solutions facilitate effective patient turning, improve quality of care, prevent pressure injuries, and bring efficiency and accuracy to patient turning documentation.
2022 Remote Care Changes And How They Affect You
The 2022 reimbursement rates for remote patient monitoring now are lower than in 2021. It is sad, but there are tips on how to face these changes and take advantage of them to help your business and your patients. How is it possible to offset these lower rates?
First, if you haven’t done chronic care management (CCM), you should do that. Enrolling RPM patients in CCM will make a significant difference.
You can also explore cost-effective patient monitoring solution alternatives. We always recommend cellular devices, high-tech devices that share ratings instantly. But there is new technology coming out that allows you to use patient apps and portals, that can be used on a smartphone or tablet, and you would simply purchase a license for them to measure vitals like blood pressure or oxygen saturation from home. The RMP device cost is much lower this way.
What does that mean for your patients? They still get peace of mind knowing that someone from their care team is monitoring their treatment progress and numbers. The remote patient monitoring solution program is still very well liked by your patients. And it is still generating revenue for your business as primary RMP codes pay over 100 USD a patient per month in the US, which is 1200 USD annually and over 300,000 USD annually in reimbursements for 250 RPM patients.
In today’s Healthcare, constant patient care and monitoring are more critical than ever. That’s where our ZenBit Tech team can help.
Thanks to our international experience and extensive competencies in the sphere of digital health, our healthcare solutions and systems help to better manage high-risk patient populations regardless of their location while optimizing costs, offering more reimbursement opportunities, meeting clinical targets, and improving patient outcomes and their quality of life. Learn more and discover our comprehensive offer, leave us a message or call.
