Should ACO's Use Remote Patient Monitoring?

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Remote patient monitoring is proving to be a valuable tool for improving care and keeping a close eye on chronically ill patients, but not all ACOs are on board

Fifty-five percent of Accountable Care Organizations have already integrated or are planning to integrate remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology, according to a report from Spyglass Consulting. Most of these ACOs are utilizing RPM to address Medicare penalties for readmissions, financial incentives for chronic disease management, or simply to involve patients in their own health and encourage them to have an active role in managing their health.

But not all the report’s results were so positive. While the majority have decided to use RPM, 71 percent of the ACOs Spyglass interviewed expressed concerns about integrating it with their EHR. Even more discouraging, 58 percent said they are concerned “RPM technology does not provide adequate support for clinical analytics and decision support tools,” which help them turn data into evidence based insights.

Health IT Analytics notes, “Outside the ACO context, remote monitoring has seen enthusiastic support from organizations like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and there has been a great deal of research showing that home monitoring and telehealth conferencing can raise patient satisfaction, help keep chronic conditions under control, and reduce the burden on providers, especially during transitions of care. The fact that 50% of ACOs still question the clinical effectiveness of tools designed to prevent falls for the elderly, improve medication adherence, and manage diabetes seems odd in the face of all this evidence.

“On one hand, maybe the disconnect isn’t really such a bad thing.  After all, the fact that ACOs are dissatisfied with the lack of analytics integration means their analytics capabilities are starting to move above and beyond the baseline.  On the other, it means that the old nemesis of health IT, a lack of interoperability and seamless integration, is still plaguing ACOs as they strive to develop comprehensive technology systems to support their mission.”

But there is hope that improvements to RPM and EHRs will give ACOs a more positive outlook in the future. The healthcare analytics market is projected to be worth $10.8 billion by 2017 and hospitals using analytics could see a 1,000 percent return on investment with a median of five years. Even though the majority of ACOs don’t see RPM as the best investment now, it’s only a matter of time before it will benefit them both financially and clinically.