Technology

Patients Learn to Love Remote Monitoring

By Michelle Noteboom

With programs proliferating, hospitals hope insurers ante up more funding

As hospitals look for ways to improve chronic disease management, patient remote monitoring programs are emerging throughout the country. But launching a successful program requires more than putting technology in a patient’s home. It demands outreach and patient education.

“Our goal is to pick up any trends or problems that might require a phone call to a doctor or a nurse to do a visit,” says Nancy Daly, R.N., program manager for South Shore Visiting Nurse Association, the home care division of South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass. “We would like to avoid ED visits and hospitalizations.”

Though some patients are initially reluctant to try new technology, Daly says in time they appreciate its inherent value. “The patients get a sense of comfort seeing their own measurements and knowing someone else is reviewing them daily,” she says.

At Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, diabetic patients and their families are taught to download glucose meter readings and forward them via the Internet to the hospital’s diabetes and endocrinology center. “It takes some time for them to use, but it is much easier than trying to call and connect with someone over the phone,” says Francine Kaufman, M.D., the center’s director.

Despite the positive reviews, reimbursement remains a challenge. Few insurance programs—including Medicare—cover remote monitoring. Marc R. Holland, research director for Health Industry Insights of Framingham, Mass., suggests that pay-for-performance programs may change that.

“Medicare won’t reimburse for monitoring but is looking at its potential economic impact and effect on quality of care,” he says. “My estimate is that within 18 months you will see this logjam break up.”

Joseph C. Kvedar, M.D., the director of the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners Healthcare in Boston, says private insurers are also becoming more receptive to opening up the purse strings. “When we go to them and say we want to do a better job of treating heart failure and want to lower the cost of care, they are interested,” he says.

This article 1st appeared in the February 2008 issue of HHN Magazine.

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