How Accurate is Remote Patient Monitoring? Things to Consider
Imagine a healthcare system that fits seamlessly into a patient’s daily routine. With the help of remote patient monitoring (RPM), you can transform this vision from hypothetical to reality. However, you’ll have to secure clinician buy-in and ensure patients participate. This process often raises an important question: how accurate is remote patient monitoring, and how can providers ensure they get the most reliable data possible? Let’s take a closer look.
The Problem with RPM Accuracy
Remote patient monitoring is a digital healthcare practice that uses technological devices and programs to collect and transmit patient health data. With the insights this data provide, healthcare providers can offer more timely, personalized, and effective care when patients need it most.
However, despite its many benefits to patients and providers alike, RPM isn’t without its downsides. Some of the most common challenges of RPM, according to physicians, include increased workloads, confusing technology, and data inaccuracies.
How Accurate is Remote Patient Monitoring?
It’s impossible to quantify the accuracy of every RPM device and system. There are too many factors that can impact accuracy, and they can easily vary from one patient to another.
It may be better to focus on the accuracy of individual devices or methods. In other words, choosing remote patient monitoring devices that are reliable and well-suited to your patients’ needs can significantly boost accuracy.
Factors Affecting RPM Accuracy
Since it’s a growing and dynamic area of virtual health services, RPM can be highly effective or it can create more challenges than it solves. Both RPM data accuracy and overall efficacy can be influenced by factors like those below.
Manufacturer Standards
Not all RPM device manufacturers or vendors have the same standards. This might mean they don’t use the same testing procedures, for example, and may use different methods to collect data.
Where you get your devices and software matters; how easy they are to understand and use will shape how accurately patients can utilize their technology.
Design & Collection Method
Perhaps the biggest predictor of RPM accuracy is the design of the patient monitoring system itself. Systems that rely entirely on human input or machine input can miss important details and be more prone to inaccuracies.
It seems that a combination of passive and active components should be built into RPM systems for the best results. For example, one study aiming to discover new metrics for measuring RPM accuracy found that a system blending these two types of components had reliability rates between 73% and 92%.
The “active” component of the system involved a touchscreen device that collected patient-reported data via surveys. “Passive” components included wearable devices with sensors to track health vitals and additional tech like smart scales.
In this way, combining traditional RPM devices with patient engagement tools (like digital health platforms) can create a more robust, accurate, and effective system for all.
User Experience & Error
When patients don’t understand how to use their RPM devices, they’re far more likely to unintentionally interfere with accurate data collection. Likewise, convoluted RPM systems can confuse or frustrate patients, leading to less careful or consistent use of their devices.
Tips for Ensuring Remote Patient Monitoring Data Accuracy
There may be several challenges that can impact remote patient monitoring accuracy, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing providers can do to increase it. Here are a few tips to help you get started.
- Educate Your Teams: Ensure that all clinicians and qualified staff are on the same page about how and when to use RPM tools. Likewise, a protocol for managing patient questions should be created.
- Eliminate Confusion: Create or offer training materials for patients using RPM devices to clear up any confusion. It’s smart to make these materials accessible from home, too, using an online portal or similar solution.
- Choose Reputable RPM Devices: Only trust RPM vendors committed to guiding you through the process of creating your remote patient monitoring system. This includes offering reliable devices and providing additional support needed to keep your RPM system running smoothly.
Count on CoachCare for accurate, user-friendly RPM devices and tech solutions. Our team can help your staff juggle everything from training to billing and monitoring data in real-time. Build an RPM system that adds real value to your practice and patient lives with the help of CoachCare.