For RPM companies, selling an RPM program to a new practice or healthcare provider is just the first step in generating sustainable sales. It’s relatively easy for practices to see the positive results from the clinical research and calculate a clear ROI based on the RPM CPT® reimbursement codes. However, most RPM companies don’t generate recurring revenue until devices are deployed and used. And that’s where the “rubber can hit the road” for healthcare providers.
As much as an RPM salesperson wants to pitch RPM as being as easy to implement, for most practices, it’s not. It’s not uncommon for devices to sit in boxes unused. Some RPM companies will help clients plan an onboarding event where 30-40 patients are scheduled for RPM onboarding appointments and walk away with devices. It’s a great way to kick-start an RPM program, but then those patients may take very few readings or very few additional patients join the program after the dedicated push of the onboarding event.
The bottom line is RPM onboarding and ongoing monitoring takes considerable staff time. Clinical staff is a scarce resource at most practices and health providers.
So devices sit in boxes or are unused in patients’ homes. The extra stream of promised revenue from incremental CPT® codes isn’t there because patients are taking sufficient readings and not engaging with clinical staff. And without engagement, the clinical improvements aren’t there either.
Many RPM companies have pivoted towards full-service or managed RPM programs to alleviate these challenges. With this all-in-one solution, RPM companies provide the devices, clinical monitoring software, and clinical staff to conduct the actual patient onboarding and ongoing monitoring.
Since this comes with a higher price point to the end client, many RPM companies structure managed RPM contracts so that practices only pay if certain engagement thresholds are met, such as the 20 minutes of engagement time required for CPT® Code 99457.
Managed RPM relieves the burden of staffing on the practice while giving an RPM company more control over generating revenue and improving clinical outcomes.
RPM nurses working for RPM companies are usually fully dedicated to RPM. When remote monitoring nurses can dropship a device to a patient’s home and schedule a virtual onboarding appointment, onboarding is not limited to onboarding events or when an overworked nurse remembers to mention RPM during a routine appointment.
With dedicated staff, you can dramatically increase the number of patients benefiting from RPM. However, you still need to manage the logistics of getting devices to patients, and many RPM companies aren’t set up to optimize the back-office logistics, like drop shipping. When you are setting up your managed RPM program, make sure your device provider can manage these logistics for you and support ongoing patient onboarding.
In today’s world of staffing shortages, great clinicians are a scarce resource. Strong nurses will naturally be driven to provide high-quality, compassionate care to their patients. However, they may be less qualified and motivated to deal with confusing online delivery websites and administrative headaches from device issues.
Your clinicians should be focused on what they do best – providing quality care. They shouldn’t spend time tracking lost devices and troubleshooting issues with device reps.
To maximize patient engagement, monitoring nurses should have access to an intuitive dashboard that allows them to easily dropship a device to a new patient with a few clicks, manage devices, and troubleshoot device issues on the spot without playing phone tag with a device rep.
Continua Systems enables dedicated RPM clinicians to provide quality care to RPM patients without administrative device headaches. See how easy back-office device operations can be with Continua. Contact us to learn more.