The Impact of COVID-19 on Remote Patient Monitoring, Medical Device, and IDTF Patient Engagement Tools

This blog post is part two of a three part series. View Part One and Part Three.

According to the “COVID 19 Telehealth Impact Study,” conducted by the COVID 19 Healthcare Coalition, 75% of physicians reported they would like to continue to offer digital services for chronic disease management post-COVID. These findings confirm that physicians see the value in providing digital and telehealth services as a part of integrated care.

Looking at the changes resulting from the expansion of remote care technologies, patient engagement is another area in which great strides have been made, including:

Earlier Patient Engagement

Providers are communicating with patients earlier in the patient journey

Digital Provider Expansion

Telehealth and remote services are available at more critical access points in the patient care continuum

Expanding Patient Options

Previously direct-to-consumer (DTC) only remote products and services are leveraging commercial coverage

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) companies have seen an increase in “home starts.” Instead of patients being introduced to devices at a physician’s office, they are referred by the provider, and the RPM company works directly with the patient to get them started. This shift creates an opportunity for the RPM company to develop a relationship with the patient before the monitoring product is shipped or the service begins. RPM companies can leverage this introduction to gather essential data about payor coverage and prior authorization (PA) requirements and set patients up on their patient portal. The patient portal connects the patient to the RPM company directly so the patient can place orders for monitoring supplies, and the RPM company can communicate the patient’s expected financial responsibility.

With telehealth services, patients can reach out to their provider directly, request referrals, get prescriptions renewed, and get treatment recommendations. As more practices become integrated, behavioral health services for chronic care patients can also be provided. This shift creates better educated and engaged patients participating in all facets of their care. 

Many providers that have been exclusively direct-to-consumer are entering the commercial space to take advantage of payor coverage. Due to their DTC backgrounds, these providers tend to already have:

• Strong connectivity established with their patients
• Invested in bringing the benefits of this technology to market
• A focus on ease of use

These RPM companies are providing a great blueprint for addressing tech accessibility.

How Advanced Automation Improves Retro Authorizations

Through the use of a patient portal or sharing information via web services, real progress is being made in the patient engagement journey. Much of the work being done on patient engagement supports providers as much as it does patients and can help ease many provider concerns including:

• The ability to electronically share information needed for prior authorizations and appeals
• The ability to gather real-time feedback on payor policy and to see and address barriers to reimbursement
• Ease of use for physicians, which promotes greater information sharing amongst providers
• Process efficiencies to allow more time for patient care
• Enabling a deeper and broader view of patients and their care

The COVID pivot has expanded XiFin customers’ use of the XiFin Patient Portal. Between February 2020 and February 2021, 27% more XiFin customers are offering patients full patient portal functionality. During the same time period, the number of payments made through patient portals has increased 42%. In addition, the value of the average payment made through the XiFin Patient Portal has grown 18%.

Learn about how XiFin’s patient and provider access tools have helped our clients improve reimbursement and patient engagement in this complementary on-demand webinar.

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*XiFin portal count usage from February 2020 – February 2021