Remote Patient Monitoring, or RPM, is a modern, advanced, and efficient way for medical professionals and organizations to track and monitor the health of individual patients and wider demographics at a considerably lower cost than in-person physician appointments or symptom checks. But what do the statistics say about the impact of RPM?
In this article, Wanda Health has collated statistics, metrics, and data from some of the leading researchers and analysts to examine why RPM programs have proven so successful and what these indicators tell us about the impacts on healthcare costs and patient outcomes.
Outcomes Statistics of RPM Programs for Patients
Designed for both acute and chronic illnesses and diseases, the RPM market has grown astronomically in recent years, extending from a $1.45 billion market in 2021 to a projected $4.07 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of almost 9% year-on-year.
One of the primary drivers behind the growth of RPM is that it has proven to deliver better outcomes, catching warning signs and symptoms before they escalate, pre-empting medical incidents and attacks, and giving clinicians excellent responsiveness, with automatic alerts when a patient’s measurements fall outside of the norm.
Regulation interactions, education, and oversight of their readings through our virtual care platform ensure patients are engaged and supported while having the convenience of submitting data from the comfort of their homes.
Impacts of RPM on Patient Satisfaction, Engagement, and Compliance
RPM has achieved patient satisfaction ratings of close to 100%, with studies showing positive perceptions of RPM ranging from 90% to 94%.
It generates improved compliance and engagement with care plans and lifestyle advice, with 80% of patients considered well-engaged and over 70% following the instructions issued by their practitioner.
Outcomes include reduced admissions to hospital and emergency departments, with 38% of RPM users reporting a drop in admissions of chronic patients, alongside a 17% reduction in the cost of treating those patient cohorts.
The risks of readmission to hospital following discharge have fallen by 76% for practices using RPM, with only 9.4% of RPM patients readmitted within one month of being enrolled into an RPM program.
Emergency visits completed by doctors have dropped by 51%, with a 47% reduction in total medical appointments and in-person visits and 40% fewer hospital admissions for older patients participating in RPM-based care.
Statistics related to COVID-19 RPM monitoring show that 95.5% fully recovered, with a fractional 0.2% of patients failing to participate in RPM care for the prescribed period.
The Prevalence of RPM Healthcare Services
The rising average age of the population and improved long-term health have been significant factors in the usage of RPM, with estimates that, within the next two years, more than one in four American adults, or 70 million people, will be offered RPM care services.
Practices, hospitals, consultants, and clinics have welcomed this change, with a survey of 25 healthcare providers concluding that the reduction in chronic care admissions of 41%, with corresponding lower service costs, has improved capacity, financial revenues, and the quality of care on offer.
Increases in the Use of RPM in the US
Twenty-three million people were using RPM services in 2020, expected to more than triple by 2025 to over a quarter of the US population.
80% of Americans feel positive about RPM, with between 50% and 70% of patient demographics preferring RPM to in-person appointments to monitor symptoms such as blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart rates.
RPM claims submitted by practitioners in internal medicine comprised almost 30% of all claims made, with just under 20% of claims submitted by family practitioners and 21.5% of billing issued by cardiology units.
Virtual consultations and medical visits have soared from 14% of physician-patient interactions in 2016 to 80% of visits in 2022, with RPM device usage also climbing from 12% to 30% in the same period.
Some regional variations exist, primarily where more rural areas make it harder for patients to see a clinician in person, often due to limited mobility, a lack of transport connections, or the cost and distance necessary to attend the closest available medical practice.
Because RPM requires no travel time or costs, patients in rural areas have seen marked improvements in access to care, with 75% of physicians in rural or semi-urban areas introducing RPM to help manage chronic illnesses.
Cost Savings Achieved Through RPM
Healthcare providers must balance their expenditures and incomes and ensure services are financially viable with the right proportion of resources and practitioner time to provide high-quality care services. Digital RPM devices and virtual care readings can be easily integrated with billing systems and patient care records.
RPM Financial Statistics
Readmission costs have fallen dramatically, with an average cost of $15,200 per patient and readmission rates in RPM patients dropping by 76%.
Readmission costs linked to congestive heart failure are equally reducing, with the 38% decline in hospital emergency admissions saving an average cost per admission of $34,150 and $13,505 per readmission.
Cost savings associated with annual medical expenses to manage patients with diabetes are also lowering. CDC figures show that real-time RPM data tracking can minimize the average cost of $16,752 per patient per year.
Increases in CMS Billing Codes for RPM
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeing a notable increase in the proportion of claims made using CPT codes linked with RPM care.
In 2018, the CMS introduced CPT 99091, a generalized code for services where practitioners collect and analyze patient health data through a digital process. By the following year, the CMS had launched three more codes, followed by CPT 99458 in 2020.
By 2022, an extra five codes had been launched, providing more accurate billing for various interactions, digital data collection and analysis, care plan modifications, and ongoing remote monitoring services.
Between 2019 and 2022, claims for the current ten CPT codes multiplied by 1,298%. In 2022, the CMS received more claims collectively than ever before, with RPM claims 27% higher in November 2022 alone than in the same month the previous year.
All these statistics, surveys, and measurements present a strong case for the increased growth of RPM, providing proven, data-backed advantages in cost savings, patient welfare, disease management, and capacity.
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