The COVID-19 pandemic boosted health system interest in many of the topics that we cover regularly. Overcrowding, staff shortages, and infection risk-avoidance gave regional health agencies little choice but to explore alternative care modes. The result was growing adoption of remote patient monitoring (RPM), remote-care-at-home, IoT connected health, and wearables. Current Health, an enterprise care-at-home platform provider, recently released a white paper showing that in just 12 months, COVID-19 led 89% of health systems to increase remote care technology use. That’s quite a boost during a relatively short time. According to the white paper Remote Care Delivery: Perceptions, Adoption, and Trends, 81% of health systems expect to increase their care-at-home investments even further during the next 12 months.
Current Health surveyed key decision makers at 250 health systems. In addition to the top line adoption and future plans data, the survey also reported the key benefits health systems realized from remote care and the planned future investment areas. Among the benefits mentioned by survey respondents, 69% cited reduced hospital admissions, 63% improved patient satisfaction, and 62% provider satisfaction. Looking to the future, 64% of surveyed decision-makers intend to increase their investment in home-based chronic care, 60% in “Hospital at Home” programs, and 58% in transitional care.
“The pandemic pressure-tested our ability to deliver healthcare in the home and has led to an undeniable shift towards the home as a primary site of care,” said Christopher McCann, Current Health founder and CEO.
Remote care was gradually gaining traction prior to the pandemic. COVID-19’s rapid onset and magnitude absolutely boosted adoption of the component technologies.
