How Remote Patient Monitoring Drives Loyalty and Healthier Outcomes
Welcome back to our series on developing your dream practice – The Better Practice Roadmap™. In this installment, we’re diving into a powerful set of tools that can transform both your patient care and practice growth: Remote Patient Monitoring and Tracking.
For the traditional primary care practice, tracking what a patient was doing outside of the clinic was unheard of. But in modern healthcare, it’s becoming a standard of practice to know your patients’ biometrics, activities and even what they’re eating every week. It may seem like overkill but tracking patient compliance is crucial to understanding your patients’ needs, and your patients themselves.
Tracking goes beyond just numbers. Devices and systems that track patients’ data drive better outcomes, deepen patient relationships, and foster loyalty to your practice. With connected devices and tracking apps, there’s just no reason not to pay attention to patient data. It’s effortless.
By harnessing the power of data, both manual and from connected devices and apps, you gain access to real-time insights to patient behavior, which can be leveraged to improve patient outcomes, enhance engagement, and ultimately build a loyal, healthier patient base. Let’s explore how incorporating these technologies into your practice can set you on the path to long-term success.
The Power of Connected Devices: Real-Time Data at Your Fingertips
Imagine being able to see exactly how well a patient is adhering to their care plan without having to ask them each time. With wearables and connected devices, providers can now gather continuous, real-time data on important metrics, from heart rate to sleep quality to physical activity.
Let’s say you’re managing a patient with high blood pressure. Using a connected blood pressure cuff, you can receive regular updates on their blood pressure levels.
If readings start trending upward, you’re able to spot it quickly, even before the patient’s next appointment, and intervene early—perhaps suggesting a tweak in their diet or exercise plan, or adjusting their medication as needed. This kind of proactive care not only improves patient outcomes but also reinforces the provider’s commitment to their well-being. If you’re using the right tracking software, you can also set up automatic alerts to tell you when patients are not tracking or tracking out of range.
Tracking Possibilities: Seeing Your Patients’ Perspective
Connected devices offer an incredible breadth of data, which opens up various tracking possibilities that are key to understanding and managing patient health.
Body Metrics:
Tracking weight, blood pressure, and other physical metrics is foundational, especially for patients with chronic conditions or those on a weight loss journey. Body metrics serve as early indicators, helping providers catch issues like blood pressure spikes or weight gain before they become bigger problems.
For a patient working on weight loss, frequent weight entries (especially combined with activity and dietary data) can help pinpoint specific times or habits that may need adjustment. A sudden weight gain could prompt a conversation about recent dietary choices or sleep patterns, leading to a practical plan to get back on track.
Physical Activity:
While fitness trackers are great, each patient’s activity level tells a unique story about their health. Some may need encouragement to move more, while others might be overdoing it. Activity tracking gives providers a baseline, allowing them to create or refine recommendations based on actual activity levels.
For an older patient looking to improve their heart health, activity tracking can provide valuable data on daily movement. If the data shows low step counts or minimal movement, you might suggest simple changes like a daily 20-minute walk to help them get started.
Diet and Food Intake:
For patients managing conditions like diabetes or obesity, diet is critical. Connected devices can track some dietary metrics, but even simple manual food journaling adds an extra layer of insight. Providers can see not just what patients eat but also understand underlying patterns or triggers.
If a patient struggles with high blood sugar levels, tracking their daily food intake might reveal a pattern of high-carb snacks in the evening. Armed with this information, you can suggest healthier options that satisfy hunger while maintaining stable blood sugar levels.
Because not everyone enjoys food tracking, encourage the use of an application that is connected with dietary recommendations so that patients can track an entire meal in one click, take a picture of what they ate or just add their calories. Make sure the application is user friendly with a lot of shortcuts to address all users types.
Sleep Data:
Sleep often gets overlooked but plays a crucial role in everything from weight management to mental health. Poor sleep can slow progress toward health goals, making it essential for patients to maintain good sleep hygiene.
If a patient is having difficulty losing weight, a look at their sleep data might reveal they’re only getting five hours of sleep a night. This lack of rest can interfere with metabolic functions and reduce motivation, so you might advise them to set a consistent bedtime and limit screen time before bed.
Time Tracking for Insurance:
If you’re spending time looking at patient’s data, it should be tracked on your end to ensure that you can report this information as it relates to patients’ insurance and billing.
Manual Entries: Filling in the Gaps
Despite the power of connected devices, no device captures everything. That’s where manual entries come in, filling in gaps that data alone can’t explain. Patients often share personal insights during visits or through messages, giving valuable context that devices may miss. Manual entries allow patients to capture these nuances in real time, enabling providers to understand and address the deeper “why” behind health behaviors.
For example, a patient might say they don’t have time to exercise. Reviewing their manual entries, you notice they’re regularly waking up late. A simple recommendation—like setting an earlier alarm—could help them find that extra time in their day. This insight wouldn’t be obvious from device data alone.
Some types of manual entries that can complement device data include:
- Activity Logs: For exercises or movements not captured by wearables, like stretching or swimming, manual activity logs provide a fuller view of a patient’s physical activity.
- Food Journaling: By recording specifics about meals, dietary patterns, and even meal-related triggers, food journaling helps paint a clearer picture. For example, patients can note any emotional eating episodes, helping providers tailor dietary recommendations. And a picture is worth a thousand words. If your app let’s them easily share a picture of their plate, you’ll know more than a detailed food journal in most cases.
- Personal Journaling: Life doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and stress, mood, and life events can all affect health. Encouraging patients to journal about their stressors, moods, and goals adds context that data alone cannot capture.
The Full Picture: Combining Patient Data to Inform Care
With BodySite, providers have access to a single, integrated dashboard that brings together both device data and manual entries, creating a complete view of each patient. This consolidated view supports truly data-driven decision-making and leads to better, more personalized care. When providers see trends from both device readings and patient-provided information in one place, they’re able to make smarter, more customized care plans.
If a patient’s manual logs or journal entries show increased stress levels and their device data reflects decreased physical activity, you have the insight needed to suggest a mindfulness or relaxation routine, such as a daily walk or deep breathing exercises, to help them cope.
Using Data to Drive Better Outcomes
When both device data and manual insights work together, providers are positioned to make smarter, more proactive care decisions. BodySite offers tools like alerts and automatic notifications that let providers know when patient data falls out of range.
If a patient’s blood pressure spikes, the provider can reach out to discuss lifestyle changes or medication adjustments, demonstrating a proactive approach to care.
Bridging Blind Spots
Without comprehensive tracking, it’s easy for critical information to slip through the cracks. Blind spots can lead to generic advice that leaves patients feeling like they’re just a number, not an individual.
A patient might feel frustrated by generic exercise recommendations, but if they see their provider monitoring and responding to their actual activity levels and health needs, they’ll feel more engaged and motivated to follow through.
A Platform That Makes Tracking Easy for You and Your Patients
Tracking data is more than just metrics; it’s about running a smarter, more efficient practice. Comprehensive tracking can streamline patient management, simplify decision-making, and lead to better patient outcomes and practice growth. In other words, using data effectively is foundational for any provider serious about building a better practice.
BodySite makes this data easily accessible by syncing with a wide range of connected devices. This puts reliable, up-to-date information in your hands, empowering informed care decisions. By tracking these trends over time, you’re not just responding to patient issues—you’re preventing them.
If you’re ready to see how BodySite’s tracking solutions can transform your practice, start exploring today. This is more than just technology—it’s an opportunity to deliver the care your patients need and the growth your practice deserves.
