Remote Patient Monitoring and the Influx of Baby Boomers

How the aging U.S. population is leading to an increase in remote patient monitoring.

The number of Americans aged 65 or older will climb to more than 71 million by the year 2029, a projected 73% increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Born between 1946 and 1964, the aging of the Baby Boomer generation highlights the challenges the country faces in caring for an aging population.

Healthcare is the primary concern for the Baby Boomer generation. Already suffering staffing shortages, hospitals and care facilities are also facing space and equipment constraints. Anticipating the need for flexible alternatives to hospital and care facility stays, the healthcare industry is looking to remote patient monitoring (RPM) as a solution to staffing, equipment, and space limitations.

Federal regulations will also prove challenging via the ICD-10 coding system and meaningful use incentives, which provide incentives to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) to meet program requirements for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Accuhealth’s services anticipate and prepare for the challenges posed by both healthcare shortages, as well as by federal regulations. We designed our RPM services to accommodate shifts in the implementation of RPM, whether that shift stems from an overburdened healthcare industry or from an onslaught of federal regulations.

Quickly adapting to adhere to the ever changing requirements for remote monitoring, Accuhealth goes so far as to automatically track the 30-day billing calendar, relieving the need for manual tracking of time-based codes. Already compliant for the proposed 2021 requirements for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), Accuhealth carries the burden of federal compliance, so clinics and offices don’t have to. Exceeding quality and effectiveness requirements, Accuhealth devices are above and beyond federal minimums for functionality.

Rise in Chronic Diseases, Fall in Healthcare Costs

The combination of a high life expectancy and an increase in the incidence of chronic diseases including arthritis, asthma, cancer, COPD, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity has led to a rapidly growing healthcare burden for the management of the aging population in North America. Monitoring both health conditions and daily activities of Baby Boomers is essential.

With the ability to remotely monitor and report to physicians’ offices real-time data for certain medical conditions, RPM couples remote technology with telehealth software to interpret, manage, and intervene medically if necessary. Stimulated by the growing elderly population, there is a greater adoption of smart wearable devices, especially over the next several years.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is predicting that medical devices and software will save $700 billion over the next two decades, in part due to RPM advances. Injection-molded plastic components that are part of RPM devices, including meters, monitors, and pumps, are mainstream, in-home devices used to manage diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac, and breathing and sleep issues. They provide RPM a cross-functionality that can have an even greater impact on the industry.

RPM, including wearable devices and mobile health applications, are key to keeping healthcare costs stable. Instead of moving to other nations to secure healthcare services, Baby Boomers can leverage remote care to not only obtain the healthcare they require but to also find an affordable alternative to long-term care facilities.

Accuhealth not only protects a physician’s office in providing RPM, we help offices and clinics reach their potential in scaling these programs. Healthcare offices and clinics may realize a demand from patients seeking a transition to an RPM solution. With our Physician First structure, Accuhealth believes patients will adhere to RPM services when their primary care physician or specialist subscribes to remote monitoring as a part of a holistic care plan.

Sick Care to Healthcare

When our Baby Boomer generation is healthier, wealthier, and more active than generations from the past, they are a valuable resource to our nation. The growing geriatric healthcare market is bringing a greater need for remote monitoring technology to accommodate the prominence of the population throughout the industry.

Integral to our day-to-day lives, connectivity is relatively new to the Baby Boomer generation. Living most of their lives without smartphones, email, and social media, older Americans still want to tap into telehealth services just as much as their Millennial tech-savvy counterparts. In a recent study, 74 percent of Baby Boomers felt virtual care was more convenient. Not to mention, 40 percent stated exposure to other patients was part of their concern that remote healthcare addresses.

In 2000, only 14 percent of adults 65 or older were online, but by 2016, the percentage increased to 64 percent. Driven by different ideas of what aging should look like, Baby Boomers differ from the generation that precedes them. Not wanting to end up in a nursing home, Baby Boomers are active and want to stay in their homes for as long as possible.

Tracking vital signs and overall health, RPM can help Baby Boomers stay in their homes allowing their physicians to only intervene when levels such as blood pressure, body temperature, or heart rate are less than optimal. Reversing trends of low quality care, new technologies including RPM are key in treating the Baby Boomer population.

Accuhealth is meant to be an extension of a healthcare clinic or office. Operating the backend and administration of the clinic’s RPM program, Accuhealth liberates physicians to focus on the patients. Transmitting data directly to a secure cloud and eventually to the healthcare clinic’s EMR, our FDA-approved devices are cellular connected and technologically accessible, making them easy to use no matter the age of the patient.

Accuhealth prides itself on its turnkey, full-service RPM solution, which covers the spectrum from device delivery to automated billing solutions. Allowing the healthcare community to refocus their attention on providing superior care, Accuhealth RPM solutions helps compensate for staff shortages.

Accuhealth – the RPM Solution

With a well-funded and effective lobbying infrastructure in support of Baby Boomer needs, healthcare innovations are largely driven by the population that most needs healthcare, namely Baby Boomers. Accommodating both the Baby Boomer generation, as well as their lobbyists, Accuhealth provides an RPM solution positioned to match the outsized proportion of healthcare consumed by this generation.

Accuhealth partners with healthcare offices and clinics to make healthcare easier, more efficient, and more affordable than traditional options. Accuhealth’s RPM solution enables Baby Boomers to communicate and interact with their healthcare providers. This propriety calling feature gives healthcare professionals unlimited audio and/or video conference capability with their patients within the Evelyn platform. By improving patient health Accuhealth's RPM solution is the answer to Baby Boomers’ demands.

Whether it’s the crunch on healthcare staff, space, and resources or the federal regulations dropping the hammer on requirements and codes, Accuhealth’s RPM solution is constantly adapting and shifting its focus to accommodate both responses to the Baby Boomer generation’s entry into geriatric care.

Designed to navigate the pervasive shifts in healthcare technology, Accuhealth minimizes the disruption for healthcare clinics and offices, allowing them to focus on their patients’ needs. Accuhealth’s data shows patients who use their technology improve their health in measurable ways. Ensuring patient satisfaction, as well as compliance and scalability, Accuhealth’s RPM program provides solutions to health care clinics and offices, creating value over the long term.

To learn more about how your healthcare clinic or office can improve your offerings with Accuhealth, please visit accuhealth.tech.