Healthcare delivery techniques like telehealth have led to the expansion of healthcare services beyond traditional clinical settings. It is increasingly convenient for patients to receive care from anywhere they can connect to the Internet with an appropriate device. These advancements have transformed the approach clinicians take in delivering care and the role patients have managing their health.
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a technology-based approach that will redefine the doctor-patient relationship. By tracking vital signs and other symptoms, RPM goes beyond the constraints associated with conventional medical care. RPM offers a range of benefits including making patient data readily accessible, allowing for better chronic health management, and improving administrative efficiency.
Healthcare Professionals Are Able to Access Patient Data in Real-Time
Healthcare has moved beyond in-person visits supported by paper-based medical records that needed to be filed, stored, and then physically retrieved when a clinician needs to review a patient’s medical history. RPM revolutionized the healthcare landscape, providing clinicians with unprecedented access to extensive patient data in real-time.
Healthcare practitioners can now monitor vital metrics such as weight, body temperature, blood pressure, and glucose levels remotely. Specialized medical devices connected to RPM systems transmit patient data in real-time. Being able to continuously monitor a patient’s vital signs allows practitioners to gain a clearer understanding of their patients’ condition. This results in better decisions and tailored treatment that can drastically affect patient health outcomes.
Freed from geographical constraints, healthcare providers can now monitor a patient’s progress, take interventive measures, and offer guidance—irrespective of that patient’s location. Being able to securely access patient health data remotely can improve patient outcomes. It can avert hospitalizations and potentially delay or prevent the development of long-term complications such as strokes and heart attacks that are associated with cardiovascular disease.
Improved Chronic Health Management
Patients face challenges such as physical limitations, lack of transportation to and from appointments, and other financial constraints that prevent them from visiting a doctor, even if they want to. These barriers to healthcare, known as Social Determinants of Health, can adversely affect a person’s overall health and quality of life.
RPM can make healthcare more accessible to patients who can’t go to a clinic in person. Making healthcare more accessible to people in this demographic can change how they view doctors and other healthcare professionals. People are obviously less likely to repeat negative experiences, especially when they require so much effort. Who wants to work harder for the sole purpose of being angry or nervous? RPM may make people more inclined to be proactive about caring for their health.
RPM is valuable tool for patients dealing with chronic health conditions like hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes. Ongoing tracking of essential health metrics empowers both patients and healthcare providers to identify abnormalities and new patterns quickly. Timely intervention can prevent complications and avert hospital admissions.
Through remote supervision of medication compliance and lifestyle adjustments, medical practitioners can adjust medication or nonpharmacological treatment when indicated, resulting in enhanced disease management. This crucial partnership between healthcare professionals and patients empowers patients to play an active role in managing their health with the assurance that a healthcare professional is readily accessible to help whenever needed.
Improved Efficiency
To be effective at a population level, healthcare needs to be efficient at an individual level, and RPM helps achieve this objective. RPM helps healthcare providers to manage time and medical resources so they can give priority to patients in urgent need of attention—without compromising the health of patients managing chronic health conditions who require ongoing care.
Connected medical devices such as implantable or wearable devices, blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, glucometers, and biometric sensors. These technologies give healthcare practitioners access to accurate, up-to-date patient data. When integrated into an RPM system, these devices can transmit patient data in real-time. They are helping healthcare professionals quickly detect anomalies and make timely modifications to a treatment plan when necessary.
With the targeted approach to delivering care made possible by RPMs, patients receive better care and are more likely to have a positive experience. Healthcare practitioners can streamline their processes and reduce administrative workload. RPM helps alleviate the burden on healthcare institutions, reducing hospital visits and subsequent readmissions. Leveraging the potential of data-driven insights, health professionals can allocate their resources with greater efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the healthcare system.
Monitoring Health Conditions Remotely
Through Tapestry Health’s suite of cutting-edge RPM solutions, patients can receive care from wherever they are, and people in nursing homes, post-acute care facilities, or post-surgery recovery environments can undergo continuous monitoring around the clock. This promptly notifies staff of relevant changes in a patient’s health status, freeing them up to attend to urgent cases. RPM not only enhances the patient experience but also mitigates the risk of burnout among healthcare professionals while maintaining the quality of care delivered to patients.
Contact Tapestry Health today for further information on our innovative radar and radio wave RPM technologies and to learn more about the benefits they offer to medical professionals and patients.