Remote Patient Monitoring Program for Hospital Discharged COVID 19 Patients
OBJECTIVE We deployed a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program to monitor patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) upon hospital discharge. We describe the patient characteristics, program characteristics, and clinical outcomes of patients in our RPM program. METHODS We enrolled COVID 19 patients being discharged home from the hospital. Enrolled patients had an app, and were provided with a pulse oximeter and thermometer. Patients self reported symptoms, O2 saturation, and temperature daily. Abnormal symptoms or vital signs were flagged and assessed by a pool of nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to describe patient and program characteristics. A mixed effects logistic regression model was used to determine the odds of a combined endpoint of emergency department (ED) or hospital readmission. RESULTS A total of 295 patients were referred for RPM from five participating hospitals, and 225 patients were enrolled. A majority of enrolled patients (66% completed the monitoring period without triggering an abnormal alert. Enrollment was associated with a decreased odds of ED or hospital readmission (adjusted odds ratio: 0.54; 95% confidence interval: 0.3 0.97; p 0.039) Referral without enrollment was not associated with a reduced odds of ED or hospital readmission. CONCLUSION RPM for COVID 19 provides a mechanism to monitor patients in their home environment and reduce hospital utilization. Our work suggests that RPM reduces readmissions for patients with COVID 19 and provides scalable remote monitoring capabilities upon hospital discharge. RPM for postdischarge patients with COVID 19 was associated with a decreased risk of readmission to the ED or hospital, and provided a scalable mechanism to monitor patients in their home environment.
Appl. Clin. Inform.