Recovering at home allows for a more restful and better healing environment for patients than a long hospital stay. Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has been a proven and effective tool for many patient populations, and its use and adoption expanded dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to monitor patients remotely helped a wide range of care teams protect vulnerable and medically complex patients, particularly those recently discharged. When hospital systems became overwhelmed during the pandemic, RPM utilization decreased the burden on hospital systems while allowing for clinicians to care and monitor safely using Locus and the electronic medical record.
RPM solutions are often leveraged to manage a range of chronic disease populations but can be overlooked in supporting post-acute care. For example, using RPM to follow complex patients post-operatively using VAD (ventricle assistive devices) can enable early intervention in response to fluid imbalances, arrythmias and infection; this approach promotes exceptional care for the patient while limiting unnecessary encounters in clinic. Keeping the patient at home, resting, and reducing exposure to potential infection or illness illustrates the advantages of remote patient management.
The benefits of RPM are multidimensional with a configurable platform like Locus. Patients are ultimately receiving better care, equipped with monitoring devices that signal a potential complication arising suddenly or other risk factors that might go unnoticed, and provider care teams have software tools to observe how patients are progressing at home and can manage by exception.
Keeping patients at home rather than in clinic supports healthy recovery and exhibits excellent clinical outcomes. Locus has proven the feasibility of monitoring highly vulnerable patients at home, including single ventricle infants (with hypoplastic left heart syndrome) using medical devices and the Locus mobile application and platform. This is just one of the ways Locus enhances the existing standard of care for remotely monitored populations to achieve better outcomes.
The benefits of RPM and associated ROI (return on investment) for post-acute patients are clear, preventing readmissions and decreasing burden for the providers while helping patients communicate with care teams and stay adherent to care plans. Locus integration with the EMR provides clinicians with a tool to deliver efficient, effective, and economical care at home.
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