CAREMINDr Throws Lifeline to Physician Practices Struggling Due to COVID-19

LOS GATOS, Calif., June 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CAREMINDr, which delivers mobile-enabled remote patient monitoring ("mRPM") solutions that give doctors the ability to check in on patients in between face-to-face visits, announced today the launch of "RPM Connect," a turn-key program that offers physicians an off-site administrative and technical support team to launch and sustain mRPM services. The no-upfront-cost program helps generate much-needed monthly reimbursements to sustain medical practice revenues, while also providing better patient care for patients with chronic diseases.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to remotely monitor and manage patients with chronic and other at-risk conditions has increased exponentially; however, administering such services may not seem feasible for small medical practices. While health systems and large physician groups have the clinical, administrative and IT staff to manage their RPM programs internally, smaller independent practices often don't have the time, the staff or the financial resources to offer such services.

A Turn-Key Solution for Smaller Practices
CAREMINDr's RPM Connect fills that gap. The program helps small, independent community practices launch their own mRPM programs by offering them access to off-site support teams that work in an RPM Connect Center. These teams collect and monitor patient data from CAREMINDr's mobile app that patients input from home medical devices such as glucometers, thermometers and blood pressure cuffs, as well as their responses to clinically validated survey questions about their conditions.

The RPM Connect Centers assemble this clinically relevant and actionable information from patients into CAREMINDr REVIEWER, a powerful online portal for the patients' physicians, where non-normal responses are clearly flagged for follow up. In addition, if patients are prescribed an RPM program for ongoing care and they are not reporting in, the RPM Connect Center will immediately notify the practice.

Medical practices can be reimbursed by their patients' insurance for the remote monitoring, as well as clinical interventions based on the collected data, under chronic care management, remote physiologic monitoring and other related CPT codes to generate revenue at a time when it is desperately needed—especially by small independent physician practices.

"COVID-19 has created another public health crisis we have yet to confront: The sustainability of the independent physician practice," said Harry Soza, CEO of CAREMINDr. "Our RPM Connect program helps these physicians launch a full-featured RPM program to keep their practices financially viable, while delivering care to at-risk patients that helps them avoid emergency department visits and hospitalizations. CAREMINDr enables practices to get started immediately with no upfront costs to them, so they can quickly enroll patients and focus on patient care instead of the administrative and technology hassles of RPM."

Occasionally technical issues arise, either with the patient's mobile device or with the practice's electronic health record vendor. The RPM Connect Center will help the patient or practice resolve these issues, off-loading both of those time-consuming support burdens from physicians and their staff. Practices can also order home medical devices for patients through RPM Connect, which has established volume purchase arrangements with medical device distributors and vendors.

Practices Financially Struggling
Due to COVID-19, more than three-quarters (77%) of primary care practices have reported financial losses, according to a survey series from The Larry A. Green Center in partnership with the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC). The survey also found that 74% are operating under "severe" or "near severe" stress. If these hardships continue and more practices are forced to close, 83% of patients say they would "feel distressed at the loss of a relationship with their doctor."

A mobile-enabled RPM program can generate $60 to $120 per month for each patient monitored. If a practice monitors 200 patients on an ongoing basis, that translates into $12,000 to $24,000 in reimbursements each month to sustain practices during COVID-19—and beyond.

To generate the monitoring data for the RPM Connect program, patients are enrolled in one of CAREMINDr's exclusive virtual Care Journeys for hypertension, diabetes and other chronic or episodic conditions via a mobile app that automatically checks in with patients based on clinical need.

These consistent check-ins and accumulated data will enable practices that are currently delivering care through telehealth video visits to operate more efficiently and improve the productivity of those services while generating more revenue. The plethora of timely recorded data means that physicians will already be up to date on the patient's health status and trends—and can focus on new complaints or concerns during the telehealth appointments.

A Financial Jump-Start is Available
The RPM Connect fee is a small percentage of the practice's monthly reimbursement collected from the billed chronic care management and remote monitoring services. CAREMINDr is also relieving practices from clinician rehiring costs associated with the RPM program by connecting them to resources for a financial advance that can be re-paid gradually over the first year.

"RPM Connect is a financial lifeline for independent physician practices, and it also helps them improve outcomes by increasing care plan adherence through the regular Journey check-ins," Soza said. "We are excited and honored to help support these practices in weathering this ongoing public health and economic storm."

RPM Connect is now available in select regions in the United States. Physicians can find out when the program will be available in their location by registering for updates at www.CAREMINDr.com/RPM.

About CAREMINDr
CAREMINDr is a health IT company based in Silicon Valley that provides mobile-enabled remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions that give physicians the ability to check in on patients in between face-to-face visits. In turn, patients conveniently and efficiently report biometric, objective and subjective data on their health status and social determinants on a condition-dependent, clinically relevant schedule. This establishes an Accountable Dialogue with their providers that nurtures trust and engagement. The mRPM approach enables physicians, health systems and payers to reduce emergency department visits and hospital admissions while improving care plan adherence, financial performance and outcomes.

Media Contact:
Tara Stultz
Amendola Communications for CAREMINDr
440.225.9595
[email protected]

SOURCE CAREMINDr