Chronic care management has become more difficult over the past year, especially as social distancing guidelines have hindered patients from getting the care they need. While this was bad news for most patients, it eventually paved the way for the innovation of chronic care technologies.
Many clinics and physicians nowadays are looking into telehealth and remote patient monitoring (PRM) to give patients the proper care even when they cannot physically be there. Not only that, but these tools are helping physicians consolidate any patient data to generate more accurate reports.
Here are a few examples of these chronic care management technologies that have recently made their mark in the medical community.
Remote Patient Monitoring
RPM devices help Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems operate efficiently and effectively. With RPM devices, physicians are able to gather enough data to make assessments.
There are a number of devices that can do this. For instance, smartwatches or other wearables that can track various health information such as hours of sleep, heart rate, amount of physical activity, and the likes.
When each device is able to track patient data even without the aid of the physician, it becomes much more personalized and convenient to analyze. It should also give doctors enough insight to create interventions for the patient.
RPM researchers are still looking into more convenient ways of application. App development and possible IoT integration are some prospective options.
Digital Medication Management
Two of the biggest struggles faced by many chronic illness patients are health literacy and restrictions due to old age. With the right assistance, chronic illness patients are able to take the medication that they need at the right time.
Thankfully, there are many technological resources in which to help patients with their medication. But while there are many of these rolling out, having a more personalized approach could take medication management to another level.
With apps and portals, we can generate notification prompts that serve as reminders for patients to know which medication to take, and when. This could prove useful not only to patients but for care providers as well.
Interactive Patient Channels
Care providers will find technology helpful to aid their efforts to care for their patients. Analyzing patient engagement is difficult to calculate based only on information from care providers. Thanks to automated processes, it will be much easier to track patient progress in the long run.
Having interactive patient channels in place should free up some of the care provider’s tasks so that they can focus on giving quality care. Automation should help with tracking appointments, monitoring patient behavior, and getting feedback.
Virtual Care
Thanks to patient portals, physicians may now communicate with patients without having to physically be there. It will make care providers more accessible, especially if patients have no means of traveling or physically cannot do so.
This is a great way for patients and clinicians to engage and interact, making the process much smoother, even with current restrictions.
Conclusion
Technology is slowly paving the way for accessible health care. Because of innovations such as these, patients everywhere are much closer to getting the proper treatment. It is also a fail-safe way of communicating and consolidating data with patients.
Be one step ahead of chronic care management with Medistics Health. We provide resources from the best care managers to give chronic illness patients the best possible care and attention. Contact us today.