The Cost Crisis
Healthcare costs in the U.S. are rising faster than inflation, wages, or system budgets. CMS reports national health spending grew 7.5% in 2023, and PwC projects employer premiums will rise nearly 8% in 2025. For health system executives, the mandate is clear: do more with less.
That’s where Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) comes in, not as a “nice-to-have,” but as a cost-containment strategy that tackles avoidable expenses head-on.
Where the Money Is Being Lost
Most systems know their pain points:
- Avoidable Readmissions: CMS penalties totaled $320M in 2023.
- ED Overuse: 30% of ED visits are considered avoidable, costing billions annually.
- Chronic Disease Costs: Hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure remain the top drivers of hospitalization costs.
- Extended Lengths of Stay: Even one or two unnecessary hospital days can cost thousands.
Every executive I meet knows these numbers. What they’re looking for is a lever they can pull to change them.
RPM as a Cost Lever
RPM, when done well, directly impacts cost drivers:
- Prevent Readmissions: Michigan Medicine’s RPM program reduced hospitalizations by 59% in six months, proof that better monitoring means fewer costly inpatient stays.
- Reduce ED Visits: Allina Health documented fewer avoidable ED visits and better chronic care coordination through RPM.
- Shorten Hospital Length of Stay: By monitoring patients safely at home, RPM supports earlier discharges, freeing up beds and lowering per-case costs.
- Improve Adherence: Tailored nudges and daily monitoring improve medication and lifestyle adherence, reducing downstream complications.
Start Small, Scale Smart
Not every organization is ready to roll out a device-heavy RPM program across all populations—and that’s okay. The most successful systems take a staged approach:
- Start with Surveys & Education: Engage patients with simple digital touchpoints to measure needs, adherence, and risk.
- Identify Opportunities: Use early data to target patients most likely to benefit from escalated monitoring.
- Introduce Care Teams & Physicians: Layer in clinical oversight where it adds the most value.
- Scale to Devices & Biometrics: Expand to connected devices and full RPM once workflows and patient pathways are proven.
This approach lowers risk, contains costs, and ensures you’re not overbuilding programs before demand is clear.
The Partner Factor: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
The key to making RPM work as a cost lever isn’t just technology, it’s partnership. Having a virtual care partner means you can lean on expertise for:
- Workflow design and automation
- Staffing models that fit your reality
- Engagement strategies for underserved or rural patients
- Analytics that prove ROI to leadership
At AMC Health, we’ve helped organizations move from survey-only pilots to enterprise-wide programs covering tens of thousands of patients. The lesson is simple: you don’t need to start big—you just need to start smart.
AMC Health’s Perspective: From Monitoring to Margin
At AMC Health, we see RPM as a margin strategy, not a monitoring program. That’s why our solutions emphasize:
- AI-Enhanced Prioritization: Clinicians focus on patients who need intervention, not noise.
- Automated Engagement: Education, surveys, SDoH capture, and outreach at scale—without adding FTEs.
- ROI Visibility: Translating outcomes into dollars avoided, beds freed, and staff capacity extended.
The Real Bottom Line
Rising costs aren’t going away. But health systems have more levers than they think. RPM isn’t just about tracking, it’s about preventing, protecting, and preserving.
And the best part? You don’t need to go all in on day one. Start with simple touchpoints, prove impact, and grow deliberately, with a partner who has been there before.