About remote patient monitoring

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a way of delivering virtual care that uses digital health technologies for the remote collection, transmission and analysis of patients' health data. This data is transmitted to a shared portal so that healthcare professionals and patients or family/carers can track and manage a patient's health conditions, symptoms and vital signs.

Benefits of RPM

Timeliness

• Data can be queried in real-time.
• Real-time feedback about a patient's vital signs and observations can motivate self-management in people with chronic conditions.
• Intervention can occur early to avoid a potential acute care episode and change patient outcomes.

Logistics

• RPM reduces travel and associated costs.
• RPM can reduce the amount of time needed to assess and review patients, compared with in-person care.
• RPM can improve efficiency for clinicians and reduce their workload.

Holistic and patient-centred care

• RPM can provide a more holistic view of a patient’s health, in context, over time.
• RPM can increase visibility into a patient’s adherence to a treatment.
• Data can be used to engage in shared decision making.
• Patients and their families and carers can feel an increased sense of security knowing that healthcare teams are reviewing their data.
• RPM can support a patient's overall peace of mind, knowledge, self-management and shared decision making.

Cost-effectiveness

Studies indicate that RPM models are cost effective in the majority of cases, depending on a range of factors in the specific setting, including:¹

• the clinical context
• capital investment
• organisational processes
• willingness to pay.

Where direct costs are lower, this is typically associated with a reduction in overall health service use associated with RPM; for example, due to fewer emergency attendances and admissions.¹ 

Studies that found RPM led to higher expenses typically still reported significant improvements in patients' quality of life.¹

Evidence check

Remote patient monitoring (PDF 362.1 KB)
Summary of evidence on the impact of remote patient monitoring for a number of patient cohorts.

References