Quite often, in many aspects of our lives, when we are approached with a new idea, concept, or service, we may think to ourselves, “I can do that,” or “I don’t know why I would need to pay someone else to do that for me.” This might also be the case with Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) or RPM. You’ve heard about how it can help your practice- whether it is the added care it provides your patients or the financial benefits for your practice- and are considering implementing it yourself. But, you are wondering what it would take to do so. With that, we’ve outlined what providers need in order to deliver RPM services to their patients.
Devices with the Latest Technology
To monitor your patient’s vitals while they are away from your office, you need the right technology. You need devices that are easy to use (even for the most technologically illiterate of patients), yet offer the highest quality of results- all while maintaining HIPAA compliance. The devices need to offer maximum connectivity with minimum headache. Once you have your devices sourced, you have to decide if you will purchase them in bulk and store them at your office, or have them shipped individually to the patient once it is determined that the patient will require Remote Patient Monitoring.
Patient Care Coordinators
Once you have your devices sourced, purchased, insured, and in the hands of your patients, someone needs to be able to walk them through how to take their measurements, how often they should take them, and reassure them that their information will remain safe and HIPAA compliant at all times. While it may be tempting to delegate these tasks to your current office staff, the often after-hours demands will most likely require the sourcing, interviewing, and hiring of additional staff members to meet the needs of your patients.
The Latest Software
As the patients begin to take their measurements, the data needs a HIPAA Complaint place to go. If a practice is looking to set up Remote Patient Monitoring, a vital piece would be the right software to receive and process the data from multiple patients, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As is the case with any top-of-the-line, robust software, this can entail a hefty investment. More so, in the event there is an issue with said software, it would also be necessary to retain the right technical support staff to service your software at all times.
Time to Read the Data
You’ve secured the devices, they are in the hands of the patients, their readings are arriving at your state-of-the-art software, but now someone has to comb through all information to ensure there are no areas of concern for any of the patients in the program. As with the onboarding, it may be tempting to simply delegate this task to your current staff.
However, there are only so many hours in a workday. Asking them to come through reading after reading, for hours on end, can become a truly daunting task very quickly. What happens when the data gets backlogged and worrisome outliers aren’t addressed in a timely manner? When someone’s health is at stake, there isn’t really any time to waste.
You Can…But Should You?
In the original “Jurassic Park” movie, Dr. Ian Malcolm says “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” That could be said for implementing a Remote Patient Monitoring program on your own. Is it possible for an office to set up a program on its own? Technically, yes. But, should you?
The goal of Remote Patient Monitoring is to offer more comprehensive care to your patients without adding any additional stress or duties to your hard-working staff. In fact, in many cases, the right RPM program can help reduce your staff’s workload, or at the very least, redirect their efforts to the patients that need them the most. By assuming your staff “will handle it,” you are losing out on one of the key benefits RPM can offer your practice.
Instead of trying to go it alone, why not choose a company like Medek Health? By choosing Medek Health, you are choosing experience, confidence, knowledge, the latest devices, and software, along with a sound and efficient infrastructure. Medek Health’s proven Remote Patient Monitoring already has in place everything needed to deliver quality RPM services to both providers and patients. In the end, the only thing providers need to deliver RPM services is Medek Health. Start a conversation with a Medek Representative today!
