Remote Patient Monitoring: Quietly improving healthcare

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) enables medical professionals to monitor patients’ health data outside traditional clinical settings. Typically conducted in the comfort of a patient’s home, RPM leverages connected devices to collect vital signs, weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and other metrics. These devices transmit data via Bluetooth or cellular networks, integrating it into apps, provider portals, or electronic health records (EHRs). While RPM has been part of the U.S. healthcare system for over fifteen years, its adoption surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, marking a pivotal shift in care delivery. Since 2020, key use cases have emerged for RPM, the market is expected to grow in response to these use cases, and new hospital-at-home programs are experimenting with new care delivery models for RPM. 

Core RPM use cases and outcomes

One of RPM’s most impactful applications is managing chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disorders, and obesity. This is particularly significant given that 60% of Americans have at least one chronic condition, and 90% of U.S. healthcare expenditures are related to caring for people with chronic and mental health conditions. By enabling real-time monitoring and early intervention, RPM offers a proactive approach to managing these conditions while potentially reducing hospital readmissions and improving patient outcomes.

Research underscores this potential: A systematic review published in 2020 found that cardiovascular disease was the focus of nearly half (47.8%) of RPM studies between 2000 and 2018. (An estimated 48% of Americans have some type of cardiovascular disease.) Another study found that multiple “economic evaluations identified RPM as a potentially cost-effective tool, particularly for long-term CVD management.” Additionally, NYU Langone used RPM to support pregnant patients with diabetes mellitus (an acute-chronic condition if there ever was one) and discovered, “remote patient monitoring patients submitted more glucose values, and were more likely to achieve glycemic control in target range (79.2% vs 52.0%.)” An 18-month study at UPMC leveraging RPM via the Vivify Health platform uncovered that Medicaid members enrolled in the program were 76% less likely to be readmitted to the hospital.

If done well, RPM programs can significantly reduce costs, morbidity, and mortality. 

The growth trajectory: Market expansion and investment

The global RPM market is experiencing unprecedented growth. Valued at $50.39 billion in 2024, it is projected to reach $203.68 billion by 2032. This growth is fueled by rising demand for chronic disease management solutions, value-based care contracts, ubiquity of cellular connectivity across the United States, and supportive reimbursement policies.

Companies range from providing ‘full-stack’ services that include devices as well as tech support and telehealth monitoring to device-specific manufacturers that can fit into a plethora of clinical support programs run by hospitals. Major players like Medtronic, Abbott Labs, and Omron are building RPM devices alongside emerging companies such as TytoCare which is serving primary care needs and Babyscripts which is offering maternal and fetal monitoring. In 2025 approximately 70 million people—are expected to use some form of RPM service. 

Challenges: Bridging the gaps in people and processes

Despite its promise, RPM faces challenges that extend beyond technology. One critical issue is ensuring that collected data does not go unreviewed—a scenario that undermines its value entirely. Effective RPM programs require a clear framework outlining responsibilities for patient onboarding, data review frequency, alert monitoring and patient + provider algorithms for how to respond to abnormal results.

Additionally, integrating RPM data into legal medical records presents ethical and operational challenges. Once included in a patient’s record, this data carries legal implications for accuracy and privacy. Any inaccuracies could affect medical decisions or insurance claims, underscoring the need for robust data integrity measures.

Hospital-at-Home programs: A synergistic approach

RPM plays a pivotal role in hospital-at-home (HaH) programs by enabling continuous health monitoring for patients receiving acute-level care at home. This model not only enhances patient satisfaction but also reduces costs associated with inpatient care as well as hospital-acquired infection rates. An underappreciated aspect of leveraging RPM as part of hospital-at-home programs is addressing social determinants of health. In rural communities where patients may live hours away from emergency or specialist care facilities, effective RPM programs can save travel time for caregivers and patients which in turn helps maintain employment and other tenants of living ‘normally.’   

Policy Support: Reimbursement Codes Driving Adoption

The expansion of RPM has been bolstered by specific Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes that allow providers to bill for these services including:

• CPT 99453: Initial setup and patient education
• CPT 99454: Device supply and daily recordings
• CPT 99457: Treatment management services
• CPT 99458: Additional clinical staff time

Additional clarity related to how Medicaid, private insurance, and safety net providers can bill for RPM as well as more codes are available at telehealth.hhs.gov. The 2020 CARES Act accelerated reimbursement for telehealth services in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many provisions are set to expire on March 30,2025, much to the chagrin of the many. The extension of telehealth policy flexibilities for Medicaid patients and hospital at home programs currently hangs in the balance until the U.S. Congress passes a new budget, hopefully continuing to support these programs. 

The Future of RPM

While the ViVE conference vendor center heavily mirrored the health tech’s current AI hype, there was still a significant focus among presenters on scaling virtual care beyond pilots, delivering on the promise of wearable technology, and adopting connected digital experiences for patient engagement. Health technology veterans likely remember when RPM was the hype child over the past decade. Remote patient monitoring has moved from hype to a mature growth curve as an area of innovation that has delivered on its promise and will continue to improve over the next decade. 

Katie D. McMillan, MPH is the CEO of Well Made Health, LLC, a business strategy consulting firm for health technology companies. She is also a curious researcher and writer focusing on digital health evidence, healthcare innovation, and women’s health. Katie can be reached at [email protected] or LinkedIn.