Telemetrix, Piedmont Healthcare, and Remote Care Partners announced the launch of a new continuous care program designed to improve the quality and relevance of patient information collected through remote care devices.
In these still relatively early days of telehealth, remote patient data monitoring and collection can be imprecise. Healthcare providers are often flooded with more information than they need. In addition to sifting through the data sent from at-home care devices, providers must also navigate between cloud-based hubs and their patient’s electronic health records (EHR). This process is not only taxing, but time-consuming, making it harder for healthcare providers to provide efficient care.
The project that Telemetrix, Piedmont, and RCP are launching is an all-in-one program to streamline the continuous care process—facilitating a simpler exchange of information (interoperability) and more efficient system integration. The program combines Remote Patient Monitoring software from Telemetrix with devices, care management, and coaching provided by RCP. The program will begin at two Piedmont medical facilities and then roll out across Piedmont Health System. Backend support will be available to healthcare providers through RCP’s team of more than 70 registered nurse coaches.
“Healthcare practices are flooded with data,” says Gregg Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Remote Care Partners. “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.”
Every step, from device ordering through data transfer, is fully integrated with Epic. Patient data is collected by RCP devices, encrypted and transferred securely through the cloud, and automatically populates a patient’s EHR. The entire process typically takes two minutes or less, ensuring healthcare providers have relevant patient data as soon as they need it.
“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,” commented Patrick Cossart, Piedmont Healthcare Director of Virtual Health.
This model not only improves short-term quality of care but long-term patient outcomes—reducing inconsistencies between results taken at home versus at the medical office and providing digital reminders for patients to take their medications. Importantly, Medicare compensates payors and practices for this service, as it reduces emergency room and doctor visits.
“Continuous care isn’t really possible in a doctor’s office with periodic visits, but it is made possible by the interoperability between home devices, the cloud, and the electronic health record,” explains Nancy Beale, PhD, RN-BC, Chief Nurse Executive/Chief Clinical Informatics Officer at Telemetrix. “Advancements in remote and continuous patient care are eliminating the need for every healthcare interaction to be in an office. Virtual care is evolving into interactive care, connecting the hospital to the home.”
About Piedmont Healthcare
At Piedmont, we deliver healthcare marked by compassion and sustainable excellence in a progressive environment, guided by physicians, delivered by exceptional professionals, and inspired by the communities we serve. Piedmont is a not-for-profit, community health system comprised of 22 hospitals and 37,00+ employees. Since the beginning, Piedmont has been a pioneer in patient care, fulfilling the health care needs of Atlanta residents and the surrounding communities. Today - more than 110 years since it was founded - Piedmont is known as a leading hospital system in cancer care, treatment of heart disease and organ transplantation.