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Remote Patient Monitoring

HOW DOES REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING WORK?

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REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) can be used to enable monitoring of patients in their home, which increases their access to care and decrease healthcare costs.

 
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DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS

RPM devices, such as scales, pulse oximeters, and blood pressure cuffs, can be connected to patients’ tablets or smartphones via Bluetooth. Wi-Fi is normally used to transmit readings back to the hospital for doctor review.

 
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CALL CENTERS

Nurses who are working within the medical facility's call center can immediately contact the patient as metrics are reported from the patients RPM devices in real time. This approach can also help patients avoid re-hospitalization by providing proper care as a preventive measure and as it is needed.

 

Medical Compliance

Medical compliance happens in real time. For example, there are tools to help track the vital signs of organ transplant recipients after surgery once they are released from the hospital or patients can wear a patch that detects when they take their medications while giving notifications as needed.

RPM has helped reduce hospital admissions by 38%

Patient satisfaction has increased 25% due to RPM.

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Patient ID Ban (And Why It Should Be Removed)

PATIENT ID BAN (And Why it Should Be Removed)

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A unique or national patient identifier is similar to a Social Security number, where a number code would be used across all providers to identify individual patients. This would replace the current system that uses a name, address, or date of birth. Patient Identifiers are thought to solve the issue of inconsistent patient matching.

The Patient ID ban prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from funding, implementing, or developing a unique patient identifier system to eliminate or reduce the inconsistent patient matching.

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WHY SHOULD THE PATIENT ID BAN BE REMOVED?

With the removal of the Patient ID ban, numerous incidents in healthcare that are due to patient mismatching would be reduced.

Incidents that can occur due to patient mismatching includes but are not limited to:

  • Losing a loved one because he or she is mistaken for another patient, leading to a medical error.

  • An infant given expressed breast milk from the wrong mother who was infected with hepatitis.

  • A patient in cardiac arrest denied lifesaving care because the care team pulled the wrong patient's record and adhered to a do not resuscitate order.

  • Opiates unknowingly prescribed to patients with a history of addiction.

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ePhysicians

ePHYSICIANS

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Accessing ePhysicians

Having access to an ePhysician allows patients to discuss symptoms, medical issues, and more with a healthcare provider in real time.

 

FEATURES OF AN ePHYSICIAN

Select the Title of each column to reveal the information inside the tabbed table:


Electronic

Use digital technologies in their medical practice



Equipped

Having digital technologies that are readily available at your disposal



Enabled

Enabled by regulations and guidelines



Empowered

Empowered by technologies that support daily work-related tasks and their e-patients



Engaged

ePhysicians are able to take part in the entire healing process while taking into account the patient's feelings and viewpoint



Expert

Provide technological expertise in the area of their practice


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benefits of an ephysician

Some of the benefits of ePhysicians include:

  • More accessible care for patients

  • More convenient care for patients

  • More affordable care for patients

  • Increased access to specialists

  • Higher quality care for every patient

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Patient Identity and Matching

PATIENT IDENTITY AND MATCHING

Patient matching is the practice of connecting disparate patient records across different medical providers or facilities. A patient visiting two different doctors or two different hospitals should yield the same medical record, but the data shows this does not usually happen.

Inconsistent patient matching creates a handful of problems for the patient and the provider.

Consequences of mismatched data

Data-matching errors present a considerable threat to the delivery of suitable care and patient safety and carry major consequences. Some of the consequences of mismatched patient data include:


Mismatched patient data and incomplete medical history can lead to potentially fatal consequences. Mismatched data could result in incorrect or unnecessary medical care.
An example would be if a patient is not matched to the correct record, a drug could be prescribed to the wrong patient. If the clinician does not know of the patient’s drug history, a fatal outcome may result.



Patient safety is always a major priority, but there is also a significant cost burden on the health system if there is a patient matching error.


POTENTIAL SOLUTION WITH SECURITY CONSEQUENCES

A common solution is a national patient identifier. An NPI is similar to a Social Security number, where a number code would be used across all providers to identify individual patients. This would replace the current system that uses a name, address, or date of birth.

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