How remote patient monitoring is set to change the healthcare industry, forever

Healthcare, as we know it, is undergoing an ‘all in’ transformation driven by technology. Innovative digital solutions, the shift to decentralised and patient-centred models of care, the quest to widen access and cut costs, and the challenges of the pandemic are all helping to usher in a new era for the healthcare industry and its patients.

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a significant part of this digital transformation, delivering huge benefits for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, governments and the patient experience.

The global RPM market is on pace to reach $117.1bn by 2025, compared to $23.2bn in 2020 – that’s more than a five-fold increase in just a five-year period.

So, how are RPM technologies improving the patient experience and health outcomes today? And how are they set to transform the future of healthcare?

Great advancements in healthcare and monitoring technologies were being made in the years prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019.

However, the cultural shift towards patient-centricity and the adoption of new monitoring technologies surged during the pandemic crisis as the public and healthcare providers sought new ways to safely access and deliver medical support.
In the UK in March 2020, 10% of patient appointments were made remotely compared to just 3.5% the previous March and registrations to the NHS app increased by 111% over the same period.

Furthermore, a survey conducted by YouGov revealed just under half of people believe that being able to track symptoms or use monitoring devices to assess health concerns, has been important and helpful during the pandemic. Over half of people would also like to have the option of remote consultations with HCPs when the pandemic ends.

Importantly, the research also found 64% of people are now happy and confident to share their personal health data with the NHS to support the development of new treatments and vaccinations. This is compared to only 13% before the pandemic.
This step change, borne out of necessity, was enabled by increased patient willingness to use monitoring technologies, as well as increased stakeholder buy-in and regulatory changes enabling greater access and reimbursement.

During the emergency phase of the pandemic, RPM offered a bridge to care and now offers a chance to reinvent virtual and hybrid virtual or in-person care models long after COVID-19, with proven benefits of improved access, outcomes and affordability.

As we move beyond the initial uptake of digital healthcare, it’s now important to consider how tools like RPM can be implemented in new care pathways and assist HCPs to manage increasing demand without overstretching already strained resources for years to come.

RPM isn’t a new concept, but one that’s constantly evolving with technological development, investment and greater patient engagement.

The long-term goal must be for a unified, multi-disciplinary, multi-organisational approach to become the new normal, leveraging the best tools and technologies like telemedicine, wearables, AI diagnostics, therapeutic devices and electronic medical records.

An exciting area of RPM development is intelligent devices and packaging, creating secure two-way communication pathways between patients and clinicians, and helping to decentralise trials away from healthcare settings. Perennial encryption technology is protecting the sensitive data being collected and shared with trial leaders. 

Wearable devices worn by the patients during trials is one component of this new digitalised approach, allowing clinicians to track and analyse health information such as heart rate and pulse, temperature, blood oxygen levels, stress levels, breathing rate and even different types of brain activity in real-time outside a hospital setting.

Essentially, the device (usually a bracelet) acts as a personal assistant during the patients’ everyday life at home, monitoring the patients’ health status and alerting them about abnormal conditions, medication reminders and medication tracking. The device can also facilitate tracking of many outdoor and indoor activities to give a greater sense of their lifestyle during the trial.

Another recent advancement is integrating intelligent RPM technology into existing medical packaging (such as blister packs) or devices. This is chipped with a wireless electronic component that allows tracking of drug usage as soon as the tablet is ejected from the blister or the device is used. In most cases, contact materials are not affected and the digital enablement, along with options for child resistance, are added as additional layers requiring no regulatory approval. 

‘Innovative digital solutions, the shift to decentralised and patient-centred models of care, the quest to widen access and cut costs, and the challenges of the pandemic are all helping to usher in a new era for the healthcare industry and its patients’

Each time a tablet is removed, or a medical device is used or activated, a signal is sent from the packaging or device to the bracelet. The bracelet will then send its information to a clinical trial administrator team either directly, or via a smartphone to the cloud, then to the host. This transmission of data can be programmed to occur in real time or as a scheduled event and allows healthcare providers to monitor and improve patient compliance.

Diabetes management is another area where RPM is delivering huge benefits to both patients and health professionals.

One great example is Sensyne Health’s GDm-Health digital therapeutic app which is helping pregnant women and their care teams proactively monitor and manage diabetes remotely – a condition that can cause significant risk to both mother and child if not recognised and treated.

Clinicians use the system to monitor blood glucose levels remotely which women upload themselves from home, prioritising care for the women who need it most, reducing the need for as many GP and hospital visits and limiting the associated stress.

Looking ahead, the fundamental role of RPM will evolve to deliver richer and more accurate data sets for machine learning algorithms to interpret and offer valuable predictions to clinicians.

Combined with millions of Electronic Patient Records (EPR), this enormous, anonymised data set can aid better decision-making, resource utilisation and ultimately patient outcomes at a time when the NHS has never been under so much pressure.

AI-assisted data analytics will also transform drug discovery and disease prevention strategies, meaning faster development of new treatments.

With greater patient support and increased funding in a post COVID-19 world, the opportunities presented by RPM solutions are limitless. Over the next five to ten years, remote healthcare will become the new status quo, powered by machine learning technologies to support earlier detection and intervention.

Lives will be saved, costs will be cut and pressures will be eased for overstretched healthcare systems.

Rich Quelch is Global Head of Marketing at Origin