When the pandemic struck, Tanner tapped its remote patient monitoring (RPM) program to empower patients to bring their health care home, equipping them with the tools and resources they need to better manage their health from wherever they reside.
Revving Up Health Care With RPM
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) offers a way for patients — and their caregivers — to easily manage health issues and monitor chronic conditions virtually.
RPM not only gives patients and providers a greater ability to manage health conditions, but also reduces the need for frequent visits to the doctor’s office.
Using digital health monitoring devices — such as digital glucometers, scales, blood pressure cuffs, finger blood oxygen meters and others — RPM helps closely monitor a range of symptoms and chronic illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, cancer, COVID-19 symptoms and more.
RPM also empowers patients to take a more active role in managing their healthcare, providing a simple and convenient way to track symptoms, medications and appointments with the touch of a button.
RPM: A Pandemic Lifeline
Tanner’s RPM program was vital to patients like Faye McCord and her family during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she and her husband, Gerald, contracted the virus in December.
McCord’s husband, who was 85, passed away in late December after battling COVID-related symptoms and a heart condition that he struggled with for years.
McCord, 80, contracted the virus soon after and was hospitalized at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, where she spent weeks recovering.
Once she was strong enough to go home, her providers sent her an RPM kit so they could continue to monitor her health while she recovered.
She’s been using RPM since January.
“With the RPM kit, they kept up with me perfectly,” she added. “All of my results, all my vitals, all my notes are sent directly to my doctors. If something is not right, they’ll call me. I also get immediate feedback if something is wrong — if my oxygen is too low, for instance. Once, I gained five pounds overnight and they immediately called me to come in to see the doctor.”
Easy-To-Use RPM Kits
RPM kits are designed to be easy to use for all patients right out of the box. Each kit is sent directly to the patient’s home with all the necessary equipment and instructions, and patients even has access to quick instructional videos on how to use the items in each kit.
“The first week I returned home, my son stayed with me,” said McCord. “The equipment came in the mail and he showed me how to use it. From then on, I’ve done it all myself.”
McCord’s kit came with a touchscreen tablet, digital scale, blood pressure arm cuff and blood oxygen sensor.
“I use those to take readings every morning around 8 a.m. Georgia time,” said McCord, who lives in Roanoke, Alabama. “If I don’t, it’ll start beeping and tell me to get with it. It helps keep me up to date with reminders about my medications, prescriptions and my doctors’ appointments. I also have a home health nurse who comes every day to help me, and my daughter and my son come regularly, too, so I get a lot of attention. It’s pretty much like around-the-clock care. And I feel that I know all about my body because it tells me about my vitals and about the basic health issues that I need to know.”
Now more than ever, programs like RPM and telehealth are revolutionizing the health care Tanner delivers, empowering patients and expanding access to a host of healthcare services further throughout the region.
Video: How RPM Works
See how remote patient monitoring works and how it’s transforming how patients are managing their health care. Watch it on YouTube.