Medical Devices

Posts Tagged ‘reimbursement’

Nerac Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) White Paper to be Released

Nerac is releasing a white paper, authored by Analysts Roz Sweeney and Tim Smith, that explores trends in remote patient monitoring (RPM) technologies. RPM devices have the potential to alert clinicians to changes in the patient’s condition before outward clinical symptoms become severe or even present. This enables treatment regimens to be altered before the patient becomes critically ill. As a result, clinical outcomes are potentially improved and patients may ultimately use fewer medical resources by avoiding hospitalization. The key topics discussed in the white paper are outlined below:

• Remote patient monitoring involves collecting patient data, transmitting the data to appropriate repositories and experts, evaluating the data using analytical tools and/or expert review, notifying patients and/or additional experts, and intervening, if necessary, by adjusting patient treatment regimens.
• Enabling technologies such as wireless communications, improved medical devices, diagnostic software and IT infrastructure are critical for the implementation of all elements of RPM. 
• Diagnostic/analytical software that can produce meaningful conclusions about the patient’s condition from the raw data is an area that needs improvement. Another challenge is that there is currently no standardized (or best practice) for the networked infrastructure. 
• Implantable cardiac devices are leading the way in establishing the clinical and economic benefits of remote monitoring technologies because these devices have the greatest volume of clinical studies to support cost-effectiveness and improved clinical outcomes. More evidence is needed to support the use of remote patient monitoring in other, non-cardiac patient populations, such as among diabetics. 
• Acute care (e.g. hospitalization) is favored over preventative medicine in the current US payment system. The lack of standardized reimbursement policies in favor of RPM have been a barrier to more widespread market acceptance.    
• Another barrier to widespread adoption of RPM technologies is the security of confidential patient information.