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CPAP patients’ equipment, and Philips monitors another 9 million patients, the company reports. “Philips connected solutions enable the care of more than 9 million patients with cloud-based
patient monitoring systems, bridging care from the hospital to the home. For example, with Philips connected technology, HMEs have the capability to streamline workflows and coordi- nate care across an entire care team,” Murphy says. “This technology not only improves the patients’ lives with advanced remote moni- toring, it also improves cost efficiencies. Our cloud-based systems have enabled customers and home health providers to securely manage patient records, allowing them to identify at-risk patients, share data across the entirety of the care team, even with payers, and automate operations.”
Experts agree the remote monitoring trend is gaining steam. Daytime oxygen and breathing aids were the obvious next step after sleep, but many more conditions and medications are likely to see more remote monitoring and, eventu- ally, care. “If chronic conditions, one of the big six that payers look at, can be treated remotely or help that patient stay out of the hospital
remotely, they are going to take advantage of it because taking care of patients in the home is the cheapest care setting,” Knowlton says.
“The number and type of medicines that have a digital component is sure to expand. In fact, we envision a future where almost all medicines have a digital component to them in the same way that the banking, hospitality, transportation and many other industries have become ubiqui- tously digital,” Hogg says.
Propeller Health is a tech company that is jumping into that niche. The company offers a sensor set and monitoring app that works with most inhaled medications, usually at no cost to the patient, the company says. “We also have a long way to go in terms of making digital medi- cines an expected and integrated part of the care process,” Hogg says. “At Propeller, we’ve been most successful when we can partner with a physician or pharmaceutical executive who truly believes in the future of digital health and will work within their organization to fully inte- grate digital into existing processes.”
Like Google or Facebook, the informa- tion gathered is as much a part of the busi- ness model for health companies as any fees
that insurers, drug companies or users pay. In exchange for the data they glean, many compa- nies offer the monitoring service to patients
for free. The data will help them refine existing services and develop new ones.
Knowlton predicts wound care will be a big growth area soon, because the technology to manage wounds remotely is already in use. “Remote monitoring might be working its way into the HME space business line by business line,” he says.
“Wound therapy in general is going to be a big one. Not just because the capabilities are here to do similar things with wound vacs as with other connected devices,” he says. Payment reform initiatives coming to Medicare-certified home health services are helping drive the sophistication of remote wound monitoring
— wound image factoring, remote diagnosis and assessment that he thinks will create even more opportunities for DMEs to distinguish themselves. “I would venture to guess that
we are going to see some upticks in how the HME providers go hand in hand with helping treat those situations, how they play a role in a patient’s care in the home and how they monitor
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