Medocity’s RPM Solutions Improve Outcomes for Patients and Providers
[Author:
STEPHEN KEELER | VP, Payer & Provider Sales]
A brief primer: The value of RPM and an overview of reimbursement policies
Let’s take a few looks at Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), also known as Remote Physiologic Monitoring, and the associated CPT codes necessary for reimbursement from CMS for use by Medicare patients, as a prelude for in-person discussions we can have at the VIVE conference in Nashville at the end of March.
A straightforward understanding of RPM is that it is asynchronous care, i.e., care delivery that is not simultaneous or concurrent in time. RPM captures, on a regular basis, data about the patient that can be analyzed and used to improve patient outcomes, lower costs, close gaps in health equity, and increase both patient and provider satisfaction. It is often used synonymously with the term “store-and-forward.”
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. I encourage you to check out what the US government says by clicking here: https://telehealth.hhs.gov/providers/preparing-patients-for-telehealth/telehealth-and-remote-patient-monitoring. As you can imagine, this document is very thorough and chock full of rules, requirements, benefits, and best practices. As the largest payer in the country (by some estimates, over 50% of all healthcare in the US annually is paid by CMS), the government as per this website is looking at technology such as RPM to deliver benefits such as:
- Reduced hospitalizations
- Shorter hospital stays if the patient can be discharged with a remote monitoring device to use at home
- Fewer visits to the emergency room
- Better health outcomes for patients in rural areas
- Better preventative management for chronic conditions
- Reduced risk of COVID-19 exposure, along with other illnesses, for patients and health care workers
So, to get reimbursed properly by the folks cutting the checks, it’s helpful to know the government’s rationale for paying providers to use RPM for their patients who are covered by either Medicare or Medicaid. Providers can deliver RPM themselves, and/or outsource everything related to RPM to vendors such as @Medocity and our partners to deliver turnkey RPM programs that operate as an extension of a hospital, clinic, or any group of providers, and not as a replacement.
Let’s finish this blog by focusing on this notion of “extension.” RPM, like many digital health solutions, extends the care capacity and capability of clinicians. Doctors, nurses, case managers, social workers, therapists, and all who deliver care as clinical professionals are already stretched to the max with long hours and heavy workloads. They don’t need technology that only gives them more work to do; rather, they need technology to lessen the burden, help them take better care of their patients and operate at the top of their licenses. And that’s what RPM does, when properly implemented; it “extends” their reach to deliver care to patients, specifically monitoring and measuring patients’ vital signs to detect in real-time a deterioration in the patient’s condition, assess intelligently and intervene appropriately to prevent a worse outcome. Monitor to measure, measure to manage, manage to mitigate.
Looking forward to seeing you at #VIVE and talking more about how Medocity’s RPM solutions help improve outcomes for patients AND providers.
Contact info:
Stephen Keeler
VP, Payer and Provider Sales
skeeler@medocity.com