While many healthcare practices are facing this issue, many healthcare providers are actually looking for ways to switch to off-the-shelf remote patient monitoring software for lucrative patient benefits and increasing efficiency of the entire healthcare system.
But how does remote patient monitoring help in improving the efficiency of the entire healthcare system?
Well, as complicated as the questions, the answer is quite simple - data integration. With implementing data integration the entire landscape of desperate healthcare systems can be enhanced and a well connected ecosystem can be built.
In this blog, let’s see how data integration can maximize the value of RPM data and enhance the entire healthcare system.
Standardizing Data Formats & Terminology
One of the major problems that is existing in the current healthcare IT landscape is the incompatible data formats being used across different RPM systems. Since every healthcare organization has its unique workflow and way of functioning they adopt different data formats, which makes it difficult for other healthcare systems to make sense of. This leads to incomplete or inaccurate data which hinders the healthcare journey of the patients.
However, one of the most significant ways to overcome this is to adopt standardized data formats like FHIR or HL7 for seamless data exchange and achieve healthcare data interoperability for your system. This would enable your system to share data easily with other healthcare systems and to receive data seamlessly, efficiently, and accurately.
Leveraging Interoperability Solutions
The rise of the digital healthcare landscape has made healthcare interoperability a crucial factor in connecting disparate healthcare systems. Healthcare interoperability can be loosely defined as the ability of the system to seamlessly share and make sense of that information.
To achieve this, healthcare IT professionals use robust application programming interfaces, also known as APIs, to facilitate data exchange between different RPM systems. This way, you can establish a connection between the RPM systems and existing electronic health records for a seamless exchange of information to provide optimum care to the patients.
For instance, if you are a healthcare provider offering virtual care through a remote patient monitoring program, then you need your remote patient monitoring software to make the most of the information from the electronic health records system. With an interoperable RPM system, you can not only make the most of the information but also receive the information in real-time, saving you both time and money. Along with that, with a holistic view of the entire picture of the patient’s healthcare journey, you can provide the best possible care services, helping the patients to improve their health outcomes.
Streamlining Data Workflow & Analytics
The workflow of data in healthcare goes through various stages. First comes the data ingestion, processing, and analysis pipelines that allow providers to make the most of the data. By streamlining this data flow, you define the clinical workflow somewhere, which directly or indirectly defines the flow of your virtual healthcare practice.
Since remote patient monitoring is one of the most effective ways to collect information, integration of the RPM software with the existing data warehouses can make the process much simpler and more sophisticated. Apart from the integrations with the data warehouses, you also need to integrate your system with analytics platforms for your RPM software to analyze the collected data and suggest a future plan of action for providers to provide optimum care.
Ensuring Data Security & Privacy
Remote patient monitoring deals with the patient’s very private and personal information. Furthermore, this information can not only reveal the health condition of the person but also crucial insights about the person’s lifestyle and choices. Dealing with such crucial information about the patients and ensuring the security and privacy of that data is extremely necessary.
There are high chances of losing that data during the integration process, so to ensure data security and privacy of this data, implementing robust security measures and compliance with the regulatory bodies is extremely necessary. Some of the regulatory compliances that you need to adhere to are HIPAA, GDPR, HITECH Act, etc.
Along with this, you also need to conduct regular security audits and implement role based access controls to keep track of activity and find loopholes in the software security. This is essential because it helps in continuous improvement of security measures and other aspects regarding the security of the RPM software.
User Adoption & Training For Healthcare Professionals
Along with all this, the most important aspect of the remote patient monitoring software is its usability. If the RPM software and devices are not compatible with the users, then there is no point in implementing such a program.
However, this can be easily overcome by conducting hands-on training sessions. Here some of the most importance should be given to accessing the RPM data, correctly interpreting it and utilizing it to provide optimum care to the patients.
Along with this, the software and the devices should have user-friendly interfaces so that both healthcare providers and patients can easily navigate through the application and use it effectively. Also, provide clear decision support tools so that there is no confusion and the system is being used rightly.
Conclusion
Successful remote patient monitoring data integration can go a long way in enhancing the entire healthcare system. By bringing the entire healthcare system under one umbrella, data sharing can become much easier, which will directly improve care coordination among patients and providers.
It will also encourage data driven healthcare practices which has the potential to change the very nature of the healthcare practice from reactive to proactive. Along with this, it will also encourage proactive interventions from patients and providers side and offer personalized care to patients.
Prioritize data integration and make your healthcare organization a center for holistic care practices. Maximize the value of your RPM technologies with our robust software.
