Why Remote Patient Monitoring is Becoming Essential in Healthcare Today

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, doctors and their patients had just begun to see the advantages of remote patient monitoring for different types of healthcare issues. Almost overnight, an aspect of medicine that had been slowly evolving over the past few years, became the safest and most effective way to track patients’ cardiac implantable devices, vital signs, and overall health and well-being. Even now, over two years later, as more people feel comfortable returning to medical offices and facilities, the real benefits of remote patient monitoring have become apparent to patients as well as medical practitioners. 

What is Cardiac Remote Monitoring? 

Remote monitoring for cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) use electronic devices to determine and treat cardiac arrhythmias. CIED devices also record and transmit important data from a patient to the physician’s office in real-time. The healthcare provider can then use this data to make necessary changes in the patient’s medication and treatment in response to the information provided. 

Traditionally, monitoring the care of patients who have had pacemakers, defibrillators, loop recorders, or other cardiac assist devices implanted, required repeated visits to the practitioner’s office or the transmission of data might not have been reviewed in a timely manner by staff. Remote patient monitoring for cardiac care management allows the patient to stay at home while still providing the medical staff with current device data including monitoring for heart failure. 

Benefits of Cardiac Remote Monitoring 

A properly managed remote cardiac care program for patients, may offer significant benefits to both patients and medical staff. The roadblock is often at the clinic or physician’s office. Today with the shortage of nursing staff, and not enough trained clinicians to read the ongoing remote transmissions, doctors are becoming bogged down with the volume of incoming “paperwork”. 

While there are many good remote monitor apps available on the market today, the time constraints to run a remote patient program from a cardiac clinic or physician’s office can become an overwhelming ordeal for all involved.

At Cardiac RMS our many years of experience using best practices handling patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices, has taught us how to compassionately and effectively service patients remotely. Our trained IBHRE certified staff empathetically works with patients across the country giving them remote cardiac care with the benefit of the “human touch”. This has led to better outcomes and fewer readmissions to hospitals. 

So what is the answer to this important healthcare challenge and why is it essential to get it right moving forward?

For The Patients 

Patients involved in a remote cardiac monitoring program can avoid the stress, expense, time, and potential health risks of traveling to the doctor’s office to monitor their progress and the functionality of the implanted device. They also have the peace of mind of knowing that if there are any irregularities, their doctors will be made aware of them, and can quickly suggest the best course of action. Plus patients who are monitored with Cardiac RMS, have the added benefit of personal support through a CRMS staff member who can assist in patient education, compliance and help troubleshoot transmitter issues to add the human component to remote care. 

For the Medical Professionals 

The benefits of remote cardiac monitoring for the healthcare providers are numerous and extend beyond the quality of care they can offer their patients. The ability to check in on a patient’s progress by simply opening a dashboard saves a great deal of time over the traditional method of having patients schedule visits to accomplish this. This saves time, saves money, and frees up physicians’ time to see new patients, generating even more income. 

Enlisting the services of a reputable cardiac remote monitoring and virtual care management firm will extend these benefits even further. 

Greg Forsyth, one of the Founders and Managing Partners of Cardiac RMS says, “At Cardiac RMS our focus has always been patient care. With extensive background in the CIED space we saw that physicians were burdened with a deluge of data. The physicians have done an absolutely amazing job of trying to manage the data. We saw that many doctors were feeling the burnout from the mountain of data being transmitted from remote monitoring. We founded Cardiac RMS to allow them to return their focus to patient care and allow our IBHRE certified professionals to help analyze and evaluate the huge amount of data and deliver actionable items for physicians and their staff to treat their patients.”

Cardiac RMS, A Cardiac & Virtual Care Management Partner 

Cardiac RMS is proud to announce its expansion into Virtual Care Management (VCM), often known as Remote Physiologic Monitoring (RPM).  

By using cellular enabled monitoring devices such as blood pressure cuffs and weight scales, Cardiac RMS (CRMS) can track patients dealing with high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and other chronic conditions. Utilizing a robust virtual care platform to facilitate personalized interactions and remote monitoring, the CRMS care managers empower patients to have an ongoing connection to their caregivers and stay compliant between office visits.  The CRMS Virtual Care Management services focus on improving patient lives by keeping watch on their vital signs.  This leads to reduced hospital readmissions and better patient outcomes.

At Cardiac RMS we help cardiac clinics, medical facilities, and medical offices by taking on the burden of managing remote patient monitoring for them. Our RNs will integrate themselves with the medical staff and help with the entire patient journey, from new patient onboarding to creating and maintaining a steady communication link between the patient, their family or caretakers, and the medical staff. 

As we expand our services to include remote physiologic monitoring, our innovative virtual care management platform uses the most advanced technology to gather and transmit health data from the patient, including such things as weight and blood pressure readings. To save even more time, our staff will use the technology to sort, collate and refine the data so that the doctors and their staff are presented with the most relevant data in easy-to-read and compare packets. 

To learn more, request an appointment and see how Cardiac RMS can boost the quality of patient care and improve the profitability of cardiac care practices.