This blog first appeared as Steve Wunker’s piece for Forbes By Steve Wunker Remote patient monitoring has finally gone mainstream. After more than two decades of cultivation – from cardiac telemetry to Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuffs and now to wearable devices – the technological progress of remote patient monitoring (RPM) has finally intersected with other trends in medicine such as telehealth (and of course COVID) to make this a normal, everyday practice. Will it remain that way? If it does, what will the impacts be? The Current Inflection Point First, let’s explore what makes this the time for RPM to have mass adoption, moving beyond people with costly implantable devices or the fringe of patients who embrace the “quantified self” movement. What’s changed?
Remaining Uncertainties Given all these tailwinds, is the continued explosive growth of RPM inevitable? No. While the odds certainly seem in the industry’s favor, there are still uncertainties that the health community will need to resolve in the coming handful of years:
Who gets impacted?
The trends for the above questions are all positive, but convincing evidence is still accumulating. Assuming that the tailwinds continue, the benefits to patients and health systems (particularly those with Value Based Reimbursement) are clear. Health insurers should collectively benefit as well, even if the savings from avoided acute episodes and disease progression take time to realize. What other impacts might there be? For one, the more systematized healthcare providers will make greater and more efficient use of the technology. Note: this does not necessarily mean the largest health systems. Some academic medical centers, for instance, are notoriously decentralized in how they implement technology and adjust workflows accordingly, and some midsized systems can be quite progressive in how they use these new tools. Institutional culture and leadership have a major effect. Another set of winners are the technological innovators. There have been many firms over the years that have marketed technology for technology’s sake, without a clear path to market adoption or being based on actual physician decision-making. But increasingly the balance is shifting, and those that can make differentiated use of biometrics through novel sensing, processing, or patient experience stand to gain a sustained market position. Finally, drug and device manufacturers can win by tying their products together with relevant RPM offerings. The combination can speed take-up of new therapies, enhance the value equation for both physicians and health insurers, and differentiate products through offering overarching solutions which are better for patient and physician alike. After many overblown forecasts in the past, RPM seems to have finally reached escape velocity. Healthcare changes slowly due to the number of forces which must realign to support major disruptions, but when that happens – as now for RPM – the momentum can be unstoppable. This piece was written with my colleague Charlotte Desprat. Comments are closed.
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2/19/2021