Remote patient monitoring is the use of technology to monitor the health of patients outside of conventional clinical settings. This type of monitoring most often happens at home, but can also be used in long-term care facilities or similar settings. Data collected on vitals like blood pressure, heart rate or weight can be transmitted to care providers in another location for assessment, recommendations and response, and typically is integrated into patients’ electronic health records.
Remote patient monitoring already had been gaining traction as the technology to track patients improves and as hospitals and other providers dedicated nurses and other clinicians to conduct the monitoring, but it took off more during the COVID-19 pandemic, when health care providers were trying to keep non-COVID patients out of the hospital as much as possible. The idea is that remote patient monitoring can keep people in their homes, reduce ER visits and avoidable readmissions and improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.
As of the start of September 2021, some 69 health systems and 156 hospitals in 33 states were approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer acute hospital care at home. More information is available in a September 2021 AHCJ blog post.