Remote Patient Monitoring at LVHN Hits Big Milestone

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) uses digital technology to transmit and store the health data of participating patients who benefit from an extra layer of support as they learn to manage a complex health condition at home. More than 2.5 million vital signs have now been transmitted over the RPM platform at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). That represents more than 11,000 people within the past few years.

The flagship RPM program at LVHN is known as CARES (Continuous Ambulatory Remote Engagement Services). Participants are given monitoring equipment (such as a scale, blood pressure cuff, thermometer and/ or pulse oximeter) along with a modem to transmit their results. On the other end, a team of nurses continually reviews these data points. If a concern arises, a team member can reach out to the patient and assess whether further intervention is needed.

The data are also readily accessible to ordering clinicians. “We were one of the first health systems in the nation to integrate our RPM programming into Epic,” says Tori Chestnut, DNP, who oversees CARES as Administrator of Care Transitions at LVHN. “Clinicians have a wealth of information on a patient’s vitals and trends at their fingertips.”

CARES is designed for patients who are transitioning home after a hospitalization or adjusting to a new treatment regimen that is associated with a complex condition, such as:

• Heart failure
• COPD
• Pneumonia
• Asthma
• Preeclampsia
• Postpartum hypertension
• Open-heart surgery
• Kidney transplant

“RPM can help patients manage their conditions successfully, and it gives clinicians a way to monitor their frailest or most at-risk patients,” Chestnut says. “Among participants who have recently been discharged from the hospital, we have seen a big reduction in readmissions.”

Ellina Feiner, MD, a cardiologist with Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute, often uses the CARES program for people with complex heart failure syndrome and those with a recent congestive heart failure hospitalization who are at high risk for readmission. In addition, she says CARES can be useful for patients undergoing titration of cardiac medications who need help with monitoring their vital signs.

“We have found that weight, oxygen level, blood pressure and heart rate data collected via the CARES program, used in conjunction with clinical monitoring by our heart failure nurse navigators and close follow-up, is effective at keeping patients at home,” Dr. Feiner says.