A Guide to Scaling RPM for Health Systems
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) services offer a solution for helping patients manage chronic conditions and optimize their health. But these services can also help health systems overcome strained resources, staffing struggles and caring for a large patient population.
To succeed in virtual medicine, you need to develop a strategy for the program and evaluate the needs of your patient population. Why are health systems turning to RPM and how can implement a successful program?
We’ll walk through several crucial steps to implementing and scaling your RPM services for the best chance of success and the highest level of patient care.
How to Scale Your Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Pilot
Many health systems start with a pilot program. Don’t be intimidated by the cost of managing this program if you have less than 80 patients enrolled. When working with current procedural terminology (CPT) codes, you’ll need a larger pilot to begin making money.
CPT codes help healthcare professionals identify medical services and procedures that patients need and have received to properly care for and bill these patients. For the greatest program success, start with these foundational aspects of your plan.
- What is driving you to begin an RPM service? Perhaps you see large hospital readmissions in your patient population. Or you’ve begun treating a patient population with a higher frequency of chronic conditions. Some health systems want to enable new revenue streams. Understanding your motivations will help you set goals to monitor your program's success.
- Create a team. Having a core team focused on overseeing the program and measuring its success. The unit can combine clinicians, executives, and staff members who bring valuable viewpoints to your remote services.
- Set your goals. Some goals health systems set concern patient outcomes, patient experience, finances, and job satisfaction for clinicians. Each metric adds value to your health system, just in different ways.
- Outline patient segments and their needs. Doing so will lead to a personalized approach to remote patient monitoring. You’ll be more proactive and will understand what patients are looking for in an RPM program to best attract them and see the greatest compliance with recommendations and patient actions.
Challenges Health Systems Face in Scaling Remote Patient Monitoring Services
The path to successful RPM services is often riddled with challenges for health systems. The following will likely be familiar to you:
- Staffing challenges
- Reduction in elective procedures and related revenue
- Accountability for value-based care
RPM can help overcome staffing challenges in many instances. That’s because automation and alerts maximize the resources the health system has in place. But that’s not to say you won’t need to hire individuals who can complete telehealth appointments as needed or review and respond to patient messages quickly.
While elective procedures might be decreasing nationwide, RPM offers consistent monthly income. It also offers increases in patient satisfaction and improved patient outcomes. One study found that 91 percent of patients enrolled in RPM would recommend it to others.
Crucial Keys to a Successful RPM Program
To succeed in scaling RPM programs, health systems must take full advantage of the services and automation a telehealth platform offers. Here’s how to focus on building a sustainable care management strategy.
- Engage in automated Remote Patient Monitoring tools. A health system in the Midwest faced the challenges most health systems do in staffing, elective procedure reductions, and value-based care accountability. To improve outcomes and reduce costs, the health system turned to RPM as a way to automate some patient communication and monitoring. During a four-year period, it completed millions of automated patient touches via text messages, phone calls, and proactive alerts. Doing so helped ensure patients received adequate care while also improving outcomes and maximizing staffing resources through these automations.
- Build centralized 24/7 care management pods. This will aid in staffing appropriately based on the unique needs of each patient population. This approach fosters team-based care that brings nurses, physicians, and care coordinators together to engage with patients how and when they need it.
- Streamline workflows to reach more patients faster, and with fewer resources. There is no one-size-fits-all setup for Remote Patient Monitoring that works for every health system. Instead, you’ll need to build the workflows to reach your patients how they want to communicate and how it works best for your staff. Optimizing every interaction will help you make the most of your RPM program.
Ready to begin building a successful RPM service? You’ll need the best technology platform to support your program. AMC Health is a leading Remote Patient Monitoring platform that helps health systems deliver telehealth and digital services to their patient populations. Our proven strategies and tools help health systems manage patient care for various patient populations and conditions. Schedule a demo now to learn more about the technology.