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Study: RPM Works Best When It Includes a Link to Providers

Analysis  |  By Eric Wicklund  
   October 29, 2024

New research on the value of digital health in hypertension care finds that these devices work best when they connect the patient to a care provider or team who can provide medication management.

A new analysis of digital health tools for hypertension tracking says they are truly effective if they include medication management features, such as a virtual care link.

The report, from the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI), finds that devices that only transmit data to a care provider or focus on behavior change “are less effective and do not provide clinically meaningful improvements,” whereas devices that enable patients to connect with a care team to manage prescribing and dosing “deliver rapid and clinically meaningful improvements in blood pressure that outperforms usual care.”

The research highlights a crucial aspect of remote patient monitoring that has long plagued health systems and hospitals. RPM devices might be great at gathering data in between healthcare visits, but unless that data is used in a meaningful way, it’s wasted.

The key here is that RPM programs need to combine tools with access to care providers who can help patients act on the data being gathered. That may be through an app or other virtual care link, and it could be synchronous or asynchronous.

The results hold true for any chronic condition. In this case it’s hypertension, which affects roughly 120 million Americans, of half of the country, and only about 27 million, or one-quarter, are managing their blood pressure.  The rest are at high risk of a variety of health emergencies, like heart attack and stroke.

“Too many people are living with uncontrolled hypertension, but there are effective digital solutions to help patients improve their cardiovascular health, save lives, and lower spending over the long run,” Caroline Pearson, the PHTI’s executive director, said in a press release accompanying the study. “Digital medication management solutions support healthcare providers with virtual teams to monitor blood pressure and adjust medications to help bring patients into control within months rather than years.”

PHTI evaluated 11 digital health tools: Blood pressure monitoring devices from AMC Health, HRS and VitalSight; medication management tools from Cadence, Ochsner Digital Medicine and Story Health; and behavior change tools from Dario, Hello Heart, Lark, Omada and Teladoc (Livongo). The three categories were evaluated for clinical effectiveness and economic impact.

All three categories were found to increase net health spending initially, though the medication management tools had the best potential to offset those costs with improved clinical outcomes over the long term.

In terms of clinical effectiveness, the blood pressure monitoring devices were found to be slightly better than usual care in reducing blood pressure but not enough to be clinically meaningful, while the behavior change tools saw limited incremental declines in blood pressure.

Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation at HealthLeaders.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

A new study finds that digital health for hypertension is most effective when paired with medication management, and not as well when it simply collects blood pressure readings or focuses on behavior change.

The upshot of this research is that care providers need to be in the loop on RPM care management, working with the patients to act on the data tracked by their devices.


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