A recent survey of healthcare executives sheds light on how much Remote Patient Monitoring and Chronic Care Management have helped their organizations in numerous ways, according to an article published by mHealthIntelligence.
Survey firm Sage Growth Partners reached out in May 2023 to 141 company leaders, who nearly unanimously said that virtual care has provided them enormous benefits in a difficult time for the industry at large.
The panel was comprised of both corporate figures – CEOs, COOs, etc. – and clinicians, as well as hybrid medical officers. Collectively, they listed common chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease as the primary concerns among Medicare-eligible patients enrolled in their RPM and CCM programs.
As the table below shows, they’ve seen dramatic gains in several critical areas such patient wellness and return on the investments made in the programs, such as clinicians dedicated to remote care outreach and devices for RPM patients.
Interestingly, 70 percent of respondents said they’re administering virtual care in-house. A simple way to avoid the inherent expenses involved in the programs is to instead enlist a third-party vendor to manage devices, as well as provide the clinical bandwidth involved in reaching out to patients and updating the practice’s EMR.
RPM, specifically, has been a hit with the providers surveyed, improving patient outcomes for 94 percent of them – which, as shown below, was a prime motivation for implementing the program in the first place. It’s also lowering costs (through fewer in-office visits and hospital readmissions) and increasing patient engagement and satisfaction, which naturally tends to improve and extend the provider’s relationship with each.
Sage Growth Partners points out that their research revealed a gap between the perceived challenges for providers who’ve yet to implement RPM and/or CCM and the challenges actually being faced by peers who’ve already undertaken virtual care. Concerns about prohibitive costs, low patient engagement and insufficient reimbursement rates have traditionally kept some providers away, but the survey’s respondents almost universally report such fears were ultimately unfounded.
The study also notes that the number of Americans with one or more chronic condition is expected to increase from 2010’s total of 141 million to 170 million by 2030. This sobering forecast, in addition to the encouraging early results provided by RPM and CCM (many providers surveyed said their programs are less than two years old), are likely reasons that most all say they’re likely to at least keep their spending on the programs steady in 2024, as shown in the percentages below:
Of the 30 percent of survey respondents administering their virtual care programs through a third party, over 85 percent say they’re satisfied with the setup and intend to continue outsourcing in between office visits.
The reasons for doing so are plentiful. Utilizing a vendor frees up time for a provider’s clinical staff, who can focus on more pressing concerns inherent in on-site appointments. It also introduces specialized patient enrollment services (a crucial consideration for program success), which offers a scalable element to the program that can create a considerable separate revenue stream for the provider.
If you want to know more about virtual care and what partnering with an established vendor like HealthXL® can mean for your organization, contact us and we’ll get in touch immediately.
We handle every element of the process – from enrollment to device management to patient outreach and insurer billing – and keep you informed each step of the way. There’s zero upfront cost for providers, and our proprietary software platform ensures complete HIPAA compliance and continuous EMR updating.
Virtual care is fast becoming an indispensable element of tending to Medicare-eligible patients. Let us help you realize the power of Remote Patient Monitoring and Chronic Care Management by working together.