The Myth: Reimbursement for your RPM program can create profitable revenue streams for your organization.
When putting together a remote patient monitoring (RPM) program, it is best to start by defining your goals. For example, are you looking to increase adherence rates among your chronic patient population? Do you want to boost patient satisfaction scores? Is the focus on improving control of key disease indicators like blood pressure or blood glucose? Once your goals are established, RPM reimbursement can be viewed as a way to achieve those goals while staying as cost neutral as possible. This way, your organization is focused on reaching those goals, and it’s an added bonus if you happen to make a bit of profit in the process.
RPM reimbursement is an attractive concept often dressed-up by RPM vendors as the hero in a red cape here to solve all of your organization’s needs. While achieving revenue-positivity is not impossible, it’s often a picture painted with large brush strokes (to the tune of $1,000 per patient per year!) and is less possible for some organizations than others. Unless your facility is set up with extremely low overhead costs and revenue cycle management, the focus should be on achieving cost-neutrality and not creating new revenue streams.
Once your goals are defined, the next step is to analyze RPM vendors (and the return on investment) with a fine-tooth comb. One last question remains: how do you know which vendor is the right fit? The bad news is there is not a one size fits all answer for this question. The good news is that is actually a very good thing.
Remember those program goals we talked about a few paragraphs back? You want a vendor that most closely aligns with those goals. For example, if your goal is improved engagement and adherence rates, you want a vendor that has documented success with engaging patients at a higher level than other vendors on the market.
Do not be afraid to dig deeper into vendors to understand if their beliefs align with yours, thus helping you achieve your organizational goals. If they do not have a value proposition that is attractive to you, then move on to another vendor who does. For an example of what this could look like, you can see ours listed below.
At Veta Health, we believe every patient is unique, therefore, their care journey should be as well. By utilizing A.I. and an attentive clinical team, we reach out to patients in the way they prefer to communicate and with content that is personalized to them. As a result, patients are more engaged & adherent, achieve better health outcomes, and avoid unnecessary trips to higher cost venues of care.