How does remote patient monitoring (RPM) for hypertension help patients? Increased access to quality telehealth and remote patient monitoring programs allows clinicians to monitor hypertensive patients between office appointments closely. The following article focuses on how remote patient monitoring can help transform health outcomes for people with hypertension.
Remote Patient Monitoring and Hypertension
Chronic diseases are concerning because they are the nation’s leading causes of illness, disability, and death. In addition, chronic care conditions often require hospitalization and can be costly to treat, accounting for our nation’s $4.1 trillion annual health expenditure. High blood pressure is a term for a chronic medical condition known as hypertension. It is the number one risk factor for death worldwide, affecting roughly 1.13 billion people. 47%, or nearly 116 million people in the U.S., have hypertension.
Moreover, it is a significant risk factor for chronic diseases, including:
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Kidney disease
- Vision loss
- Sexual dysfunction
Fortunately, early detection can minimize the progression and development of chronic disease. For example, one way to catch hypertension early is to regularly measure blood pressure vital signs with remote blood pressure monitoring. Mass General Brigham recently published a study of 10,803 patients demonstrating the efficacy of remote blood pressure monitoring in improving both blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Benefits of RPM for Hypertension
The benefits of remote blood pressure monitoring are growing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Cardiovascular diseases increase the risk of adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19. Indeed, hypertension was the highest comorbidity in a study of 1590 patients in China. Remote patient monitoring is believed to improve these outcomes for the following reasons.
In January 2023, The Journal of Clinical Hypertension concluded that they “believe that through continuous improvement and perfection, telemedicine will bring great benefits to mankind.” In addition, remote blood pressure monitoring is better at controlling blood pressure in rural and low-income populations. RPM also improves self-management, treatment adherence, and the quality of life in hypertensive patients while reducing healthcare costs.
In the previously noted January 2023 study, the authors cited several the following advantages of remote blood pressure monitoring for hypertension.
- Detection of white-coat and masked hypertension
- Measurement in daily activities
- Assessment of daytime blood pressure
- Assessing the effects of anti-hypertensive drugs
- Facilitates long-term follow-up of hypertension
- Improve patient compliance
- Improve hypertension control rates
- Predict cardiovascular events
- Cost-effectiveness
- Better for long-term BP control
Remote Patient Monitoring and Patient Adherence
Hypertension is a lifelong disease. As a result, consistent long-term blood pressure management is vital to improving patient outcomes. Unfortunately, patients who lack motivation or do not understand telemedicine may not adhere to their remote blood pressure monitoring treatment plan.
This means patients who use remote patient monitoring for hypertension must be engaged and adhere to their treatment plans. Adherence increases a patient’s ability to self-manage their hypertension. Due to the severity of their heart condition, patients may be candidates for invasive or noninvasive monitoring. The following section explains the different monitoring methods.
Remote Patient Monitoring Methods
There are two distinct blood pressure monitoring methods: invasive and noninvasive. Invasive monitoring surgically places a pressure sensor into the arterial blood vessels to measure blood pressure directly and continuously. Conversely, noninvasive methods involve external blood pressure monitoring techniques such as FDA-cleared wired or wireless automatic blood pressure monitoring devices.
Noninvasive devices include wireless intelligent watches, smart bracelets, blood pressure cuff devices, and more. Using cellular or Bluetooth technology, data is automatically transmitted to a physician via a health hub, smartphone, or tablet.
Once a patient takes their blood pressure reading with the remote patient monitoring telehealth device, data is immediately transmitted, allowing it to be observed and evaluated in real-time. Thus, simultaneously enabling a physician to implement remote interventions such as medication adjustment or health guidance.
Remote Patient Monitoring for Hypertension – Devices
The prescribed remote patient monitoring device used varies by the patient’s condition. For instance, a patient who is using remote patient monitoring for hypertension will benefit most from using a wireless blood pressure monitor. In contrast, a patient with diabetes requires a wireless blood glucose meter for regular vital sign monitoring.
Patients take their measurements from home and must use their WiFi, Bluetooth or cellular blood pressure monitor for at least 16 days out of the month. The benefit of these daily home readings is that a physician receives a more comprehensive view of patient vital signs for analysis, treatment, and management of hypertension.
The Tenovi Remote Blood Pressure Monitor
The best devices for remote blood pressure monitoring in hypertension are user-friendly and comfortable at home. For instance, Tenovi’s BPM device works right out of the box, eliminating any hassle of complicated setup. To use the blood pressure monitor, the patient wraps the cuff around the bare skin of the upper arm and presses the middle button. The cuff inflates, measures blood pressure, and automatically sends the data to the RPM platform.
Any reading above 130/80 mm Hg is considered hypertensive and increases the risk of stroke. Accordingly, a physician or qualified medical professional can set a threshold to receive real-time alerts when a patient’s blood pressure reads too high. A physician or other qualified healthcare professional uses RPM to monitor trends in blood pressure readings and observe how patients respond to medications.
Digital Hypertension Management
Virtual patient care is now a reality, and cutting-edge innovations and advances in cardiology are continuing to transform healthcare. Digital hypertension is now a recognized academic field of digital health, seeking to add value to hypertension treatment by using information and communication technology.
Digital hypertension projects such as The Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) are setting goals to extend the healthy life expectancy for those with hypertension. Some of these goals include remote patient monitoring for patients with hypertension. In addition, JSH seeks to decrease the number of hypertensive patients by 7 million over the next decade by enabling prevention, prediction, and control of hypertension with AI, big data, and telemedicine, all via the IoT.
Another example of how telemedicine transforms how individuals manage their health came in early January when Electronic Caregiver officially released Addison, the Virtual Caregiver, an avatar for patient care. The Addison Care Console can transform homes into digital smart health homes, providing chronic care management, rehabilitation, aging in place, behavioral health, and care coordination for patients of all ages.
Would you like to learn more about remote patient monitoring for hypertension or additional research on remote patient monitoring benefits? Tenovi works exclusively with companies that would like to offer remote patient monitoring solutions to healthcare providers, including rpm service and software companies, chronic care management companies, and telehealth companies. Visit tenovi.com to learn more about our no sync, no app RPM hardware and software services.
