Distant affected person monitoring use soared amongst Medicare beneficiaries in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to an analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The examine reviewed conventional Medicare claims from Jan. 1, 2018, via Sept. 30, 2021, searching for distant affected person monitoring (RPM) CPT codes. That included new codes introduced in 2019 for monitoring common physiological information. Researchers then in contrast common RPM use in the course of the pandemic to steady glucose monitoring, a extra particular case with completely different CPT codes.
They discovered common RPM use elevated from 91 claims per 100,000 enrollees in February 2020 to 594 claims per 100,000 enrollees in September 2021, representing a 555% bounce. Throughout the identical time, CGM use elevated solely 42%.
The examine additionally analyzed how these RPM companies had been getting used and by which practitioners. Throughout the pandemic, 63.1% of common RPM was supplied by major care clinicians. In the meantime, 19.7% was supplied by cardiologists and 4.1% was provided by pulmonology specialists.
The commonest major prognosis for RPM care was hypertension, representing 62.5% of RPM companies. Diabetes made up 8.3%, whereas sleep issues had been cited for 3.9% of claims and hyperlipidemia, or excessive ldl cholesterol, for 3.5%.
The researchers famous that major prognosis assorted inside specialties; as an example, sleep and respiratory issues made up 76.4% of common RPM for pulmonologists. General, hypertension monitoring by major care suppliers dominated RPM use in the course of the pandemic, making up 42.7% of companies.
WHY IT MATTERS
Though nonetheless small, the expansion of RPM may have a severe impression on value if use continues. The examine’s authors be aware many Medicare beneficiaries have hypertension, an enormous use case seen on this evaluation.
However they argue extra analysis is required to determine when RPM will likely be most helpful.
“Prices have to be balanced with RPM’s potential advantages, comparable to lowering hospital admissions. Randomized medical trials of RPM confirmed blended outcomes general, however some focused use instances confirmed promise,” the researchers wrote. “Additional analysis is important to determine medical eventualities by which RPM is most helpful and to grasp which sufferers are utilizing it and whether or not there are teams going through entry points.”
THE LARGER TREND
A wide range of firms are providing RPM expertise. Biofourmis, which focuses on AI-backed monitoring in addition to digital therapeutics, not too long ago added another $20 million to its $300 million Series D raise first introduced in April.
Related well being tech firm Withings additionally launched its own RPM service utilizing its wearables, scales and sleep mats, whereas Alio received FDA 510(k) clearance for a monitoring system that collects information on pores and skin temperature, auscultation and coronary heart charge.
In the meantime, the Digital Drugs Society (DiMe) final month released four toolkits aimed toward serving to healthcare and life science organizations use sensor information from wearables and RPM techniques at scale.
