Continuous Care Program Aims to Streamline Data Collection

Piedmont Healthcare, Telemetrix, and Remote Care Partners (RCP) created a continuous care program that aims to assist providers in navigating patient data collection through the combination of remote patient monitoring (RPM) software, devices, care management, and coaching.

Although remote care capabilities provide numerous benefits, patient data collection challenges are prominent. Specifically, as providers engage in remote meetings and evaluations with patients, the process of monitoring and collecting data can be imprecise, the press release noted. This is often because providers receive excessive information.

Telemetrix, Piedmont Healthcare, and RCP have launched a program that aims to enhance the continuous care process. Leveraging RPM software from Telemetrix, along with devices, care management, and coaching from RCP, this program will focus on easing the information exchange process while building efficiency in system integration.

“Healthcare practices are flooded with data. The objective of this program is to make continuous care more accessible for healthcare providers and patients alike. Our combined platform with Telemetrix, Epic and Piedmont starts with a hub that collects device data from remote devices including scales, blood pressure cuffs, and glucose meters.” said Gregg Smith, CEO of Remote Care Partners, in the press release.

The program will include RCP devices collecting patient data, transferring the information through the cloud, and listing it in patients' EHRs. The entire process is fully integrated with Epic. An additional benefit of the program is speed, as the process generally has a maximum duration of two minutes, the press release stated.

“This platform is fully integrated into our provider workflow, so they don’t have to transition into other systems in order to provide care. From the patient perspective, they can see their information in the patient portal, so everything is integrated into their normal process,” said Patrick Cossart, Piedmont Healthcare's director of virtual health, in the press release.

Another goal of the program is to create similarities between at-home and office-based evaluations to support long-term outcomes.

Although the organizations intend to deploy this program across the Piedmont Healthcare system eventually, it will first launch at two of its medical facilities.

Following the rise in virtual care amid the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to enhance healthcare practices through RPM are ongoing.

In December 2022, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) began working with Stel Life to add RPM tools to treat various chronic conditions.

With the goal of treating conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure (CHF), TGH sought a partnership with Stel Life to implement the hardware and software components of the RPM program.

Through what is known as a “Vitals Hub,” Stel Life integrates with devices such as scales, blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, and thermometers and gathers patient data.

Another effort announced in November 2022 includes the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Department of Family and Community Medicine Vice Chair for Research, Tapan Mehta, PhD, working with the University of Mississippi Medical Center to study the use of RPM in treating type 2 diabetes.

Known as the Food Delivery, Remote Monitoring, and Coaching Enhanced Education for Optimized Diabetes Management (FREEDOM), the study aimed to use intervention components related to social determinants of health. The study will use HbA1C levels measured at baseline, at the end of the six-month intervention period, and 12 months into the study as the primary measurement. Study participants will receive a referral to diabetes self-management education and support programs and have access to several interventions, including digital health coaching. They will also engage in RPM to monitor blood glucose levels four times daily.