Heart disease kills more Americans per year (about 697,000) than anything else.
That sobering statistic translates into 1 in every 5 deaths, an important reminder to raise awareness during American Heart Month in February.
Now, StarMed Healthcare is offering a new Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program that can monitor your blood pressure from your home and send the results right to our providers. High blood pressure – known as hypertension – can quietly damage your body for years before any symptoms appear. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to serious health complications, including a deadly heart attack or stroke.
Our program also includes CCM (Chronic Care Management) for patients who are dealing with more than one chronic illness and require frequent testing and monitoring. Remote patient monitoring devices for chronically ill patients include:
- Blood sugar levels for diabetes management
- Blood pressure for cardiac patients
- Pulse oximeter readings for patients with respiratory illnesses
- Weight scales for patients being treated for obesity
StarMed’s remote patient monitoring program provides you access to monthly telehealth visits and a home blood pressure monitoring device valued at $100.
What is an RPM program?
Remote patient monitoring is the use of digital technologies to monitor and capture medical and other health data from patients and electronically transmit this information to healthcare providers for assessment and, when necessary, make recommendations and provide instructions.
RPM programs can also help keep people healthy, allow older and disabled individuals to live at home longer and avoid having to move into skilled nursing facilities. RPM can also serve to reduce the number of hospitalizations, re-admissions, and lengths of stay in hospital – all of which help improve quality of life and contain costs.
What are the benefits and how does RPM work?
- You will receive a telehealth visit with a provider each month, usually lasting about 20 minutes.
- You agree to take your blood pressure at least 16 times each month.
- Your readings automatically come back to a StarMed nurse.
- If your readings are out of range from where they should be, you will be contacted by the nurse and possibly be set up to see a provider.
- The blood pressure monitoring device is free, and yours to keep.
- Your medical information remains secure throughout the process.
- Our diagnostic software provides not only your current condition, but even advice on diet control or medication necessary to bring your blood sugar to acceptable levels.
StarMed’s RPM program, in essence, extends a physician’s reach to you. Normally, you’d come in for a visit and the physician gets quantitative data, then you go home. But the RPM program gives our StarMed provider quantitative data when you’re at home. They can see what’s happening in real-time.
The program also can reduce the 30-day rate of recidivism (patients who return for repeated care), emergency room visits, and 9-1-1 calls, all of which put a strain on the healthcare system.
It also allows better access for patients who may face barriers to quality healthcare. Some patients may lack transportation. Others can’t afford time away from work or don’t prioritize seeking care for a single issue, such as blood pressure.
This program bridges that gap and empowers you to take ownership of your healthcare.
Join our RPM program and from your home, you can help monitor your hypertension or other chronic illness and improve your health.
If you have high blood pressure or a chronic illness, register to see if you qualify for StarMed’s remote patient monitoring program here. If you haven’t been diagnosed with hypertension, you’ll need to visit a StarMed clinic to be tested and then sign up.