RPM slowly but surely making its case

Remote patient monitoring scored a semi-victory in late October when a new report indicating heart failure patients whose status was checked regularly using RPM experienced reduced risk of death and hospitalization compared to patients who received the usual standard of care. Unfortunately, several of the study's authors reported financial and consulting relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device companies, which muddies the waters, and the mid- and long term cost-effectiveness of RPM still remains to be evaluated.

Nevertheless, according to the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the results of this meta-analysis support the benefit of RPM on mortality and hospitalization rates. This benefit was evident in both randomized controlled trials and cohort studies.

This latest research supports what healthcare providers and vendors have been saying all along, that RPM offers quantifiable value that the industry can't afford to ignore. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that a 2008 study distributed by a coalition of companies and organizations backing health reform found that annual savings from remote monitoring could amount to as much as $10.1 billion for U.S. residents with congestive heart failure; $6.1 billion for U.S. residents with diabetes; and $4.9 billion for U.S. residents with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Critics, however, point to the lack of research supporting the kind of savings projected by advocates of remote monitoring. Hence, the ongoing studies.

The results of another RPM study that's been in the works are expected to be announced soon by the Yale University School of Medicine, which recently enrolled 1,650 heart failure patients as part of a National Institutes of Health sponsored study to examine the impact of device-free remote patient monitoring on improving chronic care management and reducing hospitalizations of HF patients. If successful, the findings could unite two opposing groups: those who claim RPM could save the U.S. healthcare systems billions of dollars annually, and those who say prove it.

Although the results won't be released until 2010, it's difficult to envision a scenario in which the findings could be anything but positive for RPM. As I wrote in a previous blog post, Frost & Sullivan research projects RPM market growth will rise from more than $98.2 million in 2008 to reach $428.6 million in 2015.