Remote Patient Monitoring & Wireless Tech Pair Up to Help Manage Chronic Conditions

During the rapid pivot to telehealth visits during the pandemic, safety net clinics embraced simple, efficient, and cost-effective remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions to help serve high-risk patients managing chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Clinics have embraced so-called “connected” tools for remote monitoring that are easy to use and allow patients to do routine health checks from the comfort and privacy of home. The data, thanks to the beauty of Bluetooth, is automatically sent to the patients’ providers.

There’s no relying on patients keeping a written record or remembering to send details to their doctor’s office - something that takes a lot of provider legwork out of the equation.

Remote patient monitoring, as CCI reported last year, is a popular telemedicine innovation. With patients taking charge of their routine health checks outside the walls of traditional health settings, it has the potential to lower health care costs, improve chronic disease management, and reduce preventable trips to emergency departments. It’s been made possible with the relaxing of formerly restrictive Medicare rules, which have eliminated many barriers to such services.