The 4 Major Categories of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

As the scope and adoption of remote patient monitoring (RPM) has grown, different major categories of RPM have emerged that showcase very different workflows and technology. In this article, we will go over the most common types of RPM and each of their distinct applications, goals, and economic implications.

Prior to diving into each category, below is a quick reference guide to the four major RPM categories and one subtype. Each type combines clinical benefits with significant economic opportunities for providers and payors

Different Types of Remote Patient Monitoring: A Closer Look

Now let’s take a deeper dive into each of these categories.

Hospital-at-Home: Acute Care Delivered at Home

As the name suggests, hospital-at-home programs allow patients with acute conditions to receive hospital-level care in their homes. This is particularly useful for patients with conditions that traditionally require long inpatient stays that were primarily for providers to monitor vital signs like temperature, oxygen levels, and respiratory rates, which can now be performed at home with appropriate equipment and remote management. As an example, RPM enables sepsis patients to receive earlier hospital discharge after antibiotic stabilization by allowing care staff to track near real-time temperature monitoring. This remote monitoring empowers staff to identify when an infection is likely returning. Similarly, pneumonia patients can recover at home while their respiratory function is closely monitored.

By enabling safe recovery in a home setting, hospital-at-home programs reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections, improve patient comfort, and optimize resource use for hospitals.

Example Hospital-at-Home Applications

• Sepsis management: Better ensures early detection of treatment failures through vital sign monitoring
• Pneumonia: Tracks respiratory health to identify complications such as hypoxia or secondary infections

Hospital-at-Home Economics

Hospital-at-home programs reduce costs for hospitals by freeing up inpatient beds, while also lowering expenses for payors. Patients may also benefit financially by avoiding co-pays associated with extended hospital stays. CMS’s hospital-at-home waiver, first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, greatly expanded support for hospital-at-home programs by offering inpatient reimbursement rates for eligible conditions, making the model economically sustainable.

Post-Acute Monitoring: Bridging the Gap Between Hospital and Home

Post-acute RPM helps ensure that patients transitioning home from the hospital continue to receive critical care during recovery. This type of monitoring is particularly beneficial for managing conditions such as heart failure, recovery from strokes, and post-surgical rehabilitation.

For example, patients recovering from surgery can use RPM to enable their care teams to monitor for signs of infection, delayed healing, or mobility challenges. Those recovering from heart failure benefit from close tracking of weight and blood pressure, which can signal fluid retention or cardiac decompensation. Telehealth follow-ups complement data monitoring, helping patients feel supported and engaged in their care plans.

Post-Acute Monitoring Applications

• Post-surgical recovery: Monitors for infections, wound healing, and mobility progress
• Heart failure recovery: Tracks signs of fluid retention to avoid decompensation
• Stroke rehabilitation: Assesses progress in mobility and cognitive recovery

Post-Acute Monitoring Economics

Post-acute RPM can reduce costly readmissions by enabling early detection of complications. Hospitals benefit from lower penalties tied to readmission rates by avoiding Medicare readmission penalties and through other value-based care initiatives. There is a growing trend to have post-acute monitoring patients feed into remote care management RPM/chronic care management (CCM) programs to allow them to be reimbursed under Medicare and private payor fee-for-service codes.

Longitudinal Remote Care Management: Sustained Support for Chronic Conditions

Longitudinal remote care management has fast become the most common type of remote patient monitoring and is often the type of remote care management being described when one sees the RPM acronym. Remote care management focuses on the long-term management of sub-acute and chronic conditions, such as hypertension and heart failure. By tracking vital health metrics, longitudinal remote care management enables more proactive interventions and better adherence to care plans, ultimately improving patient outcomes with a combination of physiologic monitoring, health coaching, and other care management.

For example, for hypertension management, patients use connected blood pressure monitors to track their readings at home. This vital data is transmitted to care teams, who may adjust medications or recommend interventions as needed. Concurrently, clinical staff reach out to patients to speak about their progress and help manage their care via chronic care management (CCM), which integrates lifestyle coaching to promote heart-healthy habits, like dietary adjustments, exercise, and stress management. By combining data-driven insights with behavioral support, RPM and CCM create a holistic approach to chronic disease management.

Longitudinal Remote Care Management Applications

• Hypertension control: Monitors blood pressure to guide medication adjustments and track progress.
• Heart failure management: Detects fluid retention early to prevent acute events
• Lifestyle integration: Encourages adherence to long-term behavior changes

Longitudinal Remote Care Management Economics

Medicare supports longitudinal RPM through a range of reimbursement codes, making it a financially viable solution for providers. The following are the four RPM service and management CPT codes with their average 2025 reimbursement rates:

• CPT 99453: $19.73 for setup and education
• CPT 99454: $43.02 for device supply and data collection
• CPT 99457: $47.87 for 20 minutes of care management
• CPT 99458: $38.49 for additional 20-minute increments

Dual-enrollment programs integrating RPM with CCM can generate additional revenue, with eligible patients bringing in an average of $104 per month. The combination of RPM and CCM can make for particularly beneficial programs that also become very lucrative at scale. As a result, programs that pair RPM and CCM have become the dominant type of RPM program to date.

Maternal and Prenatal RPM: Supporting Healthy Pregnancies

Maternal and prenatal RPM is a subtype of longitudinal remote care management and is particularly valuable for managing high-risk pregnancies, where conditions like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia benefit from continuous monitoring and timely interventions. Patients can use connected blood pressure cuffs, glucose monitors, and fetal heart rate trackers to provide care teams with real-time data, better ensuring prompt intervention if health issues arise.

For example, patients at risk of preeclampsia can have their blood pressure monitored daily, alerting their care team if values exceed safe thresholds. Similarly, patients managing gestational diabetes can track glucose levels to avoid complications for both mother and baby. 

Maternal and Prenatal RPM Applications

• Gestational diabetes: Monitors glucose levels for dietary and insulin adjustments
• Preeclampsia: Tracks blood pressure to detect early signs of hypertensive crises
• Fetal health: Helps ensure consistent monitoring of fetal growth and activity

Maternal and Prenatal RPM Economics

Maternal RPM programs offer cost savings by preventing complications that could lead to longer hospital stays or neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions. In addition to adding risk to the mother and child, complications during pregnancy and after birth can be extremely expensive to treat. Given this, reimbursement for maternal RPM has expanded drastically in the last year via Medicaid and private payor programs.

Population Preventive Monitoring: Low-touch Monitoring at Huge Scale

Population health RPM is an emerging concept that shifts the focus from individual patient care to broader public health monitoring. This approach could use wearable devices, such as smartwatches, to track community-wide health metrics, enabling early detection of risks like atrial fibrillation (AFib), hypertension, or obesity.

For example, a program might distribute smartwatches with AFib detection capabilities to at-risk populations. Data from these devices could highlight patterns or alert care teams to intervene early, preventing complications like strokes. While currently experimental, this model holds promise for advancing preventive care strategies on a large scale.

Population Preventive Monitoring Applications

• Wearable monitoring: Detects AFib and other conditions using consumer-grade devices
• Health trends: Aggregates data to inform public health initiatives

Population Preventive Monitoring Economics

No reimbursement pathways currently exist for population health RPM, limiting adoption to payors like Kaiser Permanente that can self-fund pilot programs. The potential cost savings from preventing chronic disease escalation and reducing healthcare utilization make this model appealing for value-based care frameworks in the future, particularly with the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics reducing the monitoring burden for very high patient volumes or low-risk patients.

Substantial Value of Remote Patient Monitoring

From treating acute conditions like sepsis at home to imagining population-wide health monitoring, RPM offers transformative possibilities across healthcare. As reimbursement frameworks evolve and technology advances, RPM is poised to become an even more integral part of the care continuum.

If your organization is considering whether to offer remote patient monitoring services to your patients, you’ll find it helpful to speak to the RPM experts at Prevounce. Prevounce provides comprehensive cloud software, a growing line of cellular-connected devices, and expert services designed to simplify and streamline the provision of RPM.