- By now you've probably heard of Remote Patient Monitoring,
or RPM and have been wondering if it's a good program
to offer to your patients in your practice.
In this video, we'll take a look
at the ROI of the Remote Patient Monitoring program,
so that you'll be able to understand the cost
and reimbursements of this program
to make the best decision.
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Hi everyone, this is Dan from ThoroughCare.
At ThoroughCare, we specialize in helping groups
to manage their patients in value-based programs
like chronic care management and Remote Patient Monitoring.
We're going to discuss the reimbursement opportunities
for this program; what you can expect to make,
how to manage costs, and how to get the best value
out of the program.
We'll also show how this program can help you
with your value-based care initiatives.
If you'd like to learn more about the specific CPT codes
that are available for RPM,
we have another video in our series
that focuses on those codes.
In this video, we're gonna talk about the reimbursements
and the ROI for RPM.
Let's start by looking at the revenue opportunity for RPM.
With this ROI example, we're going to look
at setting up the program and implementing it
for the first year.
In this example,
we'll be managing 250 RPM patients each month.
First, we'll need to purchase RPM devices for your patients.
When you're purchasing an RPM device,
there are many different costs depending on device,
whether it's Bluetooth or cellular.
We see prices anywhere from $80 to $150.
As an alternative to physical devices,
there are also some apps that can track vitals as well.
For this example, we'll use the 250 patients
at $100 per device which comes out to about $25,000.
Now I know $25,000 seems like a lot, but let's start
with some codes that can help you to offset that cost.
The first is a one time CPT code designed for training,
and education, and setup of the device.
This is Code 99453, which provides about $20
in reimbursement for each device that you configure.
With 250 patients and devices, that's $5,000 right there.
Now let's look at the monthly reimbursements for RPM.
First is CPT Code 99454.
This code requires 16 days of readings
and provides around $56 per patient per month.
With 250 patients, that's around $14,000 monthly just
for this one Code 99454.
The second monthly Code is 99457.
This code pays around $52 per month,
and it's for clinical staff spending at least 20 minutes
of non-complex services to their patients each month.
For those same 250 patients,
that's an additional $13,000 monthly just
for this one Code 99457.
So for both of those Codes 99454 and 99457,
that's $27,000 in monthly reimbursements.
If you recall, from earlier in this video,
we said that our initial costs were about $25,000.
We've covered the entire cost of the devices
in just one month of reimbursements.
So let's look at the annual reimbursements
for the program as well.
For 99454 and 99457 that's $324,000
in annual reimbursement.
We also have that one time device setup
and education Code 99453 that will bring it up to $329,000,
if all the patients in our practice are participating.
So what are your costs?
We've already mentioned the devices at $25,000 or so.
You'll also need a care manager
to manage these patients each month.
Each care manager can manage up to 250 patients per month.
The annual salary of a care manager is around $40,000.
So subtract these costs from the final total
and your practice will net $264,000,
all from one RPM program.
Now I know you're probably thinking,
yes, but that's at a hundred percent participation,
and that's fair enough.
Some months patients won't be able to take their readings,
you might not be able to get everyone over 20 minutes
but take these numbers and imagine
if only 50% of your practice participated.
You're still making $132,000 a year in additional revenue
at the 50% participation level.
If you'd like to play around
with some participation numbers,
we think 75 to 85% is a fair estimate
of what you could predict each month.
Keep in mind, these reimbursements can be higher
with the additional add-on codes.
For example, you can go more than 20 minutes
by adding Code 99458
to get an extra reimbursement each month.
So we've talked about how RPM can generate revenue
but let's talk about other ways
that it can be beneficial to your practice.
While the phrase return on investment always seems
to be around dollar signs, there's also another return
which is the improved health of your patient.
Your patients benefit from the program
by having the peace of mind, knowing that their provider
and care team are looking at their numbers.
Also, this program can be managed completely remotely.
Your patients can be at home,
while your staff monitors the numbers from the office.
By allowing patients to stay at home,
there's less pressure on you and your staff.
It also creates opportunity for more high risk patients
to be seen in the clinic,
while your lower risk patients can be managed remotely
on this program.
Imagine identifying an issue
with your patient's blood pressure and preventing them
from being taken to the emergency room or the hospital.
This is a great return on your investment,
that's only shown by the improved health of your patients.
This leads to an overall improvement of quality care,
as you start to manage your value-based care initiatives.
A program like RPM also helps practices
to manage their merit-based scores like MIPS,
and improve overall satisfaction and quality.
As you can see, offering an RPM program has many benefits;
increased reimbursement, improved patient satisfaction,
and overall improvement of patient care.
This program more than pays for itself.
So now that you have a better understanding
of the return on investment for RPM,
you're most likely gonna wanna get started.
If you're interested
in how care coordination software can help you
with a program like RPM,
you can contact a ThoroughCare representative
to schedule a meeting and see a demonstration.
There's a link in the description below.
You can always find more information about this,
and other programs in our Learning Center.
You can check out the links below
for access to the Learning Center.
If you found this video helpful,
please like it or add a comment below.
Thanks for watching, bye.
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