CMS reimburses for remote patient monitoring, which grew 10-fold from 2019 to 2022, in an effort to cut hospital readmissions.In this randomized trial of patients hospitalized for sepsis or serious respiratory infections, remote monitoring interventions failed to outperform usual care, with similar proportions of patients alive and out of the hospital at 90 days postdischarge.CMS should rethink the role of remote monitoring, according to the researchers.
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs after hospitalization for sepsis or lower respiratory infection -- an approach increasingly reimbursed for by Medicare -- didn't beat usual follow-up care when it came to increasing the number of days patients spent at home after discharge, according to a randomized trial.
At 90 days, the median number of days alive and at home post-discharge was 90 days across study arms, regardless of whether patients were assigned to one of four RPM interventions or to usual care, reported researchers led by Sachin Yende, MD, of the H. John Heinz III Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh.
The lack of effectiveness was consistent across secondary outcomes as well, the study in JAMA Network Open showed.
