PA Payer Supports Innovative Telehealth, Remote Patient Monitoring Programs

Independence Blue Cross is issuing grants to support the expansion of remote patient monitoring and telehealth programs developed by Penn Medicine.

The Philadelphia-based payer is funding three programs launched by Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Care Innovation through its Clinical Care Innovation Grant program, which issues annual grants to projects that “improve the health and well-being” of patients.

In many cases private payers are pushing the envelope on connected health innovation, with grants and other support for telehealth and RPM programs that aim to improve clinical outcomes and reduce provider workloads. The support comes at a critical time for providers looking to expand their care footprint while awaiting guidance from Congress on long-term telehealth policy and more reimbursement opportunities from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

One of the projects is an RPM program targeted at patients who’ve had acute events related to heart disease. Overseen by Srinath Adusumalli, MD, assistant chief medical information officer of connected health strategy and application and the assistant program director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, and Neel Chokshi, MD, the director of the Center for Digital Cardiology, the program monitors patients at home with a care management plan designed to boost engagement and reduce hospital readmissions.

The program is part of a wave of RPM growth around the country as healthcare providers look to improve care management for patients at home, both for those who need continued treatment and those who might otherwise be in the hospital. Through mHealth devices, telehealth platforms and in some cases in-person care, providers are finding new care pathways to allow patients to recover at home.

A second program receiving an IBC grant is Penny, an automated text messaging system designed to help patients who are taking complicated oral chemotherapy treatments at home. The mHealth platform, overseen by Lawrence Shulman, MD, deputy director of clinical services at the Abramson Cancer Center, gives providers the opportunity to track side effects and medication management, reducing the need for phone calls or office visits.

The third project is LiveAware, a connected health platform designed to improve on-time imaging-based screening rates for cancer, help clinicians select patients eligible for screening and improve outcomes. This project is managed by Tessa Cook, MD PhD FSIIM, an assistant professor and co-director of the Center for Practice Transformation in Radiology.

“These funds will support research efforts designed to provide the clinical evidence we need to move us toward making these the standards of care,” Elissa Klinger, assistant director of the Center for Health Care Innovation’s Center for Digital Health, said in a press release. “For example, the Penny bot is being built out and enrolling more patients to ensure it continues to be safe and effective, which will provide evidence needed to make it the standard of care.”