In its most basic form, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is a powerful, telemedicine service that is shifting the future of healthcare.
RPM programs are dependent on devices and software, but people also perform a crucial role.
The frontline care team include qualified health professionals such as registered nurses, doctors, and specialists, however, the daily monitoring of patients can be provided by a ‘Monitoring Team’.
Your Monitoring Team are tasked to review patient measurements, reach out to patients, to communicate and support their progress, relate other care needs, provide general care of coordinated services, and escalate to the appropriate healthcare professional as needed.
These tasks will be accomplished using the RPM software solution.
As with any business venture, you always have choices and it’s best to be armed with current knowledge of the marketplace to make informed and beneficial decisions for your organisation.
The choices you make can improve care outcomes, provide new revenue for your organisation, and improve patient outcomes for reduced costs.
In staffing your Monitoring Team, there are two options – Insourcing and Outsourcing.
Insourcing is recruiting your Monitoring Team with existing employees and Outsourcing is contracting another organisation to support your delivery of RPM.
The important feature to note is that the RPM software you choose should not lock you into one approach.
The benefit of Outsourcing is advantageous if you don’t have the time or focus or scale to hire and pay a full-time Monitoring Team.
However, Insourcing is more cost-effective, assuming you can dedicate the time to hire and train a Monitoring Team whose full-time job would be to work with the RPM software to perform its function.
But the choices don’t end there. The flexibility of our RPM program allows you to begin with your own staff and then transition to ours or vice versa, even to another partner. You are not locked into one way of delivering RPM.
If you are considering Outsourcing, there are three crucial aspects to consider:
- As we touched on earlier, the best RPM solutions don’t require you to use their Monitoring Team or force you to hire and build your own. They also don’t require you to pick one approach forever. As an organisation, you should be able to take the reins and choose the options that typically suit your business style.
- Typically, outsourcing may be more expensive over the long run, however, the benefits of the simplicity of outsourcing may in fact cost less. Consider the investment of money, time and effort that would go into start-up training and supporting the Monitoring Team to perform the in-house function. They would need to know how to use the software and have a general knowledge of how each device works. According to CSIRO, a well-trained, full-time care team member should be able to handle a patient panel of more than 200 patients each month.
- The long-term focus of your service delivery model for your practice or organisation may be to employ a Monitoring Team inhouse. This will give you the most control over the Monitoring Team members and their integration into other aspects of your business model.
If you would like to discuss the best RPM and Care Team approach for your organisation, contact Aaron Grandison at info@rpm-h.com.au