A growing number of providers are launching remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs — and for good reason. RPM is delivering clinical, financial, and operational benefits that make it one of the most impactful and more recent innovations in care delivery.
Beyond improved clinical outcomes and revenue streams, we're seeing RPM empower healthcare organizations to better address some of their most pressing challenges, from chronic disease management to staffing shortages.
Let's explore 10 top issues providers face and how RPM helps tackle them head-on.
Chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remain the leading causes of death and rising healthcare costs in the United States. Traditional office-based care models often fall short in delivering the continuous, personalized care these patients need. RPM helps fill this gap by allowing providers to monitor patients' vitals, behaviors, and symptoms on an ongoing basis. This constant stream of vital data better enables clinicians to identify negative trends before they escalate, allowing early interventions that can prevent complications and hospitalizations.
In addition, RPM fosters better communication and collaboration between patients and their care teams. Patients are empowered to take on a more active role in managing their chronic conditions, leading to improved self-care and treatment adherence. RPM can also be integrated with services like chronic care management (CCM) and advanced primary care management (APCM) to further enhance chronic disease management.
Ultimately, RPM programs — whether operated on their own or in tandem with other remote care management programs — help shift chronic care from reactive to proactive, which not only enhances patient outcomes but also reduces the overall cost of care.
Hospital readmissions are a significant burden on both healthcare systems and patients and are associated with billions of dollars in costs. Readmissions often signal gaps in post-discharge care and can bring with them substantial financial penalties under value-based reimbursement models. RPM offers a powerful, fairly simple solution by extending care beyond hospital walls. Through ongoing monitoring of patient vitals, providers can track key indicators like blood pressure, weight, and oxygen levels and spot early warning signs of a potential complication that can lead to an avoidable readmission.
Patients recovering from surgeries or acute episodes benefit from the added safety net of remote patient monitoring. It allows clinicians to respond quickly to any deviations from the expected recovery path, helping to avoid unnecessary emergency room (ER) visits. Additionally, the reassurance of continuous monitoring by a care team can reduce patient anxiety, strengthen adherence with discharge instructions, encourage engagement with the care team when concerns arise, and ultimately improve recovery.
Engaged patients are more likely to adhere to treatment plans, attend follow-up appointments, and manage their health proactively. Unfortunately, achieving consistent engagement that delivers these important results remains a challenge.
RPM drives a greater involvement and engagement in care by giving patients a direct role in their own health and chronic disease management. Devices like blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, and pulse oximeters transmit data to user-friendly platforms monitored by care teams, offering immediate insights into their health and wellness.
Knowing that their health data is being reviewed in real-time also fosters accountability. Patients tend to be more motivated to follow medical advice when they feel their efforts are seen and valued. Remote patient monitoring also creates new opportunities for meaningful, timely interactions between patients and their providers, helping to further build trust and promote long-term engagement with care.
Millions of Americans in rural and underserved communities face limited access to healthcare services due to geographic isolation, provider shortages, transportation barriers, and other obstacles. RPM helps close these care gaps by bringing healthcare into the home. With remote patient monitoring, patients no longer need to travel lengthy distances for routine health evaluations and check-ins, making it easier for providers to deliver health recommendations and guidance while maintaining continuity of care.
RPM also helps providers extend their reach and manage larger patient panels without sacrificing quality. For patients with mobility challenges or lack of reliable transportation, RPM offers a lifeline, better ensuring these individuals receive high-quality, timely care. This technology not only improves individual health outcomes but also supports greater health equity across diverse populations.
Given the substantial value of RPM, it comes as no surprise that federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs) are increasingly exploring how to add remote patient monitoring programs. To help ensure their programs are successful, FQHCs and RHCs must prioritize devices, like those from Pylo, that come pre-configured with roaming 4G/5G LTE connectivity and automatic 2G fallback. These features ensure reliable data transmission even in areas with limited network coverage.
Managing the health of populations — especially those with high-risk or chronic conditions — requires actionable data and a scalable infrastructure, in part due to the steady rise in the number of people with chronic conditions. RPM enables both of these requirements. With real-time health data transmitted from connected devices, healthcare organizations can better identify population-level trends and stratify risk more effectively and efficiently. This allows for smarter, more appropriate resource allocation, targeted interventions, and early detection of and actions on emerging health issues.
RPM platforms often include dashboards and analytics that support population health efforts. Providers can use these tools to track adherence, outcomes, and utilization patterns across large patient groups, helping to reduce disparities and improve overall organization performance, including in ways that support value-based care. By integrating RPM into population health strategies, organizations can deliver more precise, data-driven care on a broad scale.
Healthcare organizations are under increasing pressure to do more with less. Reimbursement models are shifting, margins are tightening, and operational costs continue to rise. RPM offers a valuable way to improve financial sustainability while enhancing patient care. Through Medicare, many commercial payers, and more than 40 Medicaid programs, providers can bill for RPM services using specific CPT codes, generating new revenue streams with relatively low overhead.
Beyond direct reimbursement, RPM supports value-based care by helping reduce hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and disease complications, all of which drive down total cost of care. Remote patient monitoring also enables more efficient workflows, allowing providers to manage more patients without the need to increase staff workload — a benefit considering the staffing challenges we will cover next. For many organizations, RPM is a key strategy for remaining financially viable in a rapidly changing and challenging environment.
Healthcare worker burnout is near or at an all-time high, and staffing shortages are putting enormous strain on clinical teams. RPM can ease these impactful burdens by streamlining care delivery. Automated data collection and alerts mean clinical staff can focus on exceptions rather than manually monitoring every patient. This reduces administrative tasks and empowers clinicians to spend more time on complex care decisions.
Additionally, remote patient monitoring helps reduce unnecessary in-person visits, which can free up appointment slots and reduce pressure on strained front-line staff. Nurses, physicians, and care managers benefit from having better visibility into patient health without needing to conduct time-consuming check-ins. By reducing repetitive tasks and improving workflow efficiency, RPM is playing a crucial role in supporting workforce well-being and retention. Some RPM vendors even offer full-service monitoring, enabling practices to realize the benefits of remote patient monitoring while easing staffing burdens and helping to reduce burnout.
Today's patients increasingly expect convenience, responsiveness, and personalized care from their providers — and patients are often quick to share when those expectations are met or missed on surveys, review websites, and social media. RPM delivers all three facets. Remote patient monitoring allows patients to stay connected to their providers from the comfort of home, avoiding long waits, travel, or taking time off work — if these are even an option. Real-time monitoring makes patients feel safer and more cared for, especially those managing chronic conditions or recovering from recent illness or treatment.
RPM also fosters a sense of partnership between patients and providers. When patients see their health data being used to guide care decisions, they are more likely to trust their providers and care team and feel involved in their own health journey. All these factors contribute to a more positive experience, which can translate into higher satisfaction scores, improved patient and staff retention, and better online reviews and word-of-mouth referrals.
Non-adherence to prescribed medications is a widespread issue, especially among patients with chronic conditions. Medication non-adherence, sometimes referred to as medication non-compliance, can lead to poor outcomes, increased hospitalizations and ER visits, and higher healthcare costs. RPM helps tackle non-adherence by identifying patterns that suggest non-compliance, such as out-of-range blood pressure or glucose readings, thus allowing for timely intervention.
When patients know their provider is monitoring their progress and adherence to treatment recommendations, including taking medications, they are more likely to stick to their regimens. This kind of virtual oversight encourages patient accountability while also giving providers the opportunity to uncover and address barriers like side effects, affordability, or misunderstanding of prescription instructions.
Transitions from hospital to home are vulnerable times. Patients often leave the hospital confused or uncertain about their care instructions or what to expect during their recovery. Remote patient monitoring supports smoother recoveries by providing what is essentially a digital safety net. Continuous monitoring during the post-discharge period ensures that providers can quickly detect complications and intervene before they become serious. Such monitoring reduces the risk of readmission and enhances the overall recovery experience.
Providers can also use RPM to reinforce education, answer questions, and guide patients through rehabilitation or medication management. Ultimately, RPM bridges the care gap that often exists following discharge, better ensuring patients do not fall through the cracks during an essential phase of healing.
Remote patient monitoring is more than just a care enhancement. It is a strategic solution to many of healthcare's toughest challenges, including the 10 discussed above. For organizations looking to strengthen their approach to chronic care, operational efficiency, financial sustainability and performance, and outcomes, RPM has become an essential tool.
That's why organizations nationwide are increasingly turning to Prevounce. At Prevounce, we can help you design an efficient, effective, scalable, and right-sized RPM program tailored to the needs of your organization today and tomorrow. To learn what Prevounce can do for you, book your consultation.