Although telehealth and remote patient monitoring (RPM) have been around for a while, it took the coronavirus pandemic to boost these platforms to the forefront of patient care. For Ochsner Health, long an innovator in the digital healthcare space, the pandemic provided an impetus to take their system-wide RPM platform to a national level. 

Since starting to market its RPM platform to health plans and businesses around the US, Ochsner is now monitoring 20,000 people in health plans nationwide, in addition to its own patients. There is a three-tiered process involved:

• Data collection via various iHealth devices – the data is integrated in the Epic EMR
• Health and wellness coaching - this personalizes the patient’s journey by bringing support to the patient to improve their lifestyle and better manage their own care
• Inclusion of a healthcare provider – often a pharmacist – to help guide medication management.

Before entering the RPM program, incoming patients are given a 40-question survey focused on social health determinants to better personalize and coordinate care. The program includes technical support and a chatbot.

Ochsner entered the RPM space in 2015 with its hypertension platform. It has since added diabetes management and has developed protocols for cholesterol and COPD management. Additional programs for asthma and musculoskeletal medicine are being planned. The diabetes platform has demonstrated a 3:1 return and 4:1 is seen for hypertension management.