Clinical Research Demonstrates RPM Improves Diabetes Outcomes
Many diabetic patients are already used to taking blood sugar readings on a daily basis. With the rapid increase in telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), many studies are now demonstrating that sharing this data with clinicians through an RPM program can lower A1C levels. RPM enables more data analysis, structured health coaching and timely interventions that lead to better A1C management than patient self-monitoring.
Below is a summary of the clinical research on the role of telehealth and at-home interventions in managing A1C levels. Overall, there is growing evidence that telehealth has a powerful and promising role for RPM in managing diabetes. RPM can provide frequent access to glucose data before and after meals and activities. This creates a complete feedback loop for collecting and analyzing data, adjusting behaviors, and modifying treatment to improve outcomes.
In addition to glucometers, patients at risk for diabetes can use weight scales with an RPM program to help prevent diabetes. Clinical research has also supported the use of remote monitoring for diabetes prevention.
Optimize Health’s clients using RPM to manage blood glucose have produced results consistent with the clinical research. Diabetic patients have experienced an 11-point reduction in blood glucose measurements in just 2 months and a 20-point drop within 12 months.
Highlights of the Research Include:
- Telemedicine is effective for improving HbA1c and thus, glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. In addition, telemedicine interventions were also found to significantly improve other health outcomes as well as QoL scores.
- Clinical trials evaluating the impact of telehealth remote patient monitoring on A1C among adults with type 2 diabetes that incorporated study elements, such as patient education, provider education, patient goals, feedback, interactive communication, and shared decision making, consistently achieved significant A1C improvements between study groups.
- An HbA1c decrease of -1.15% (95% CI -1.84% to -0.45%), yielding an HbA1c value of 6.95% (SD 0.495), was shown in studies using 6-month “real-time video” interventions.
- Asynchronous interventions were the most successful for patients diagnosed with T1DM…this systematic meta-review shows that telemetric interventions cause significant reduction in HbA1c levels and result in overall positive effects in T1DM management.
- Blood glucose home telemonitoring technologies confer a statistically significant reduction in HbA1c of ~0.50% in comparison to usual care when used adjunctively to a broader telemedicine initiative for adults with type 2 diabetes.
- An eHealth model incorporating a complete feedback loop with telehealth remote monitoring and paired glucose testing with asynchronous data analysis significantly improved A(1c) levels compared to usual care.
- Results suggest that a virtual DPP [Diabetes Prevention Program, including RPM weight scale] can change the pattern of utilization and reduce costs in a Medicare population … Medical and pharmacy costs were consistently lower for participants in the post-program year.
How to Use this Research
Whether you have an existing RPM program or are considering launching one, we understand that you need to direct your limited resources to programs that are going to have a significant impact on clinical care. Physicians and ordering providers rely on the results of clinical research studies every day to make patient care decisions. The below studies can be used for a variety of purposes including:
- Educating physicians on the clinical benefits of RPM
- Justifying the investment of staff time and practice resources into launching or maintaining an RPM program
- Improving RPM patient identification and onboarding based on patient populations that can benefit from RPM
Credits: https://www.optimize.health/resources/rpm-clinical-research/diabetes