Podcast

The Formula

RPM patients need to take measurements 16 days per month. Following The Formula can help your RPM coordinator keep patients on track throughout the month so you don’t end up with too few days. I have daily calls made to any patients who do not have the minimum number of days according to The Formula: (date/2) + 1. It is appropriate to start anytime after the first week of the month.

Increased CCM Payments

Medicare raised CCM payments in 2022.

Medicare now pays $58 – $83 monthly per completed CCM service (99490).

Buy your CCM templates NOW!

Medicare has posted a booklet with more details.

Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

Lower is Better

Dr Tom Frieden, former director of CDC, referred to the Final Report of a Trial of Intensive versus Standard Blood-Pressure Control, published in May in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Conclusions:”Among patients who were at increased cardiovascular risk, targeting a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg resulted in lower rates of major adverse cardiovascular events and lower all-cause mortality than targeting a systolic blood pressure of less than 140 mm Hg…”

This month I also updated by comparison of the Healthmote BT-105 and the new CardioBlip by Carrematix to our office sphygmomanometer. We are still in the process of talking with both of these companies about their products as we continue to mainly use the Healthmote system for our own RPM services.

More Healthmote Experience

Healthmote continues to lend itself to a growth of patients using RPM. It is easier to set up than Qardio, and we have found that easily more than twice the number of Medicare patients can use the simple one-button Healthmote device compared to Qardio. Send your CCM and RPM questions to mark(at)vaughanmd.com. Emails may not receive a reply, but answers to the most popular questions will be provided in future episode of the CCM Pays and RPM Podcast.

Healthmote RPM

I am excited to tell you about both of our new sponsors. You can learn more about their products by clicking on the Foracare and Healthmote links. Foracare is covered in an earlier dedicated episode. Most of this episode describes the benefits and features of the Healthmote Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) system. I also give some thoughts regarding the structure of staffing for RPM coverage.

Medicare 2021 RPM Update

Link to Official CMS Policy

There are a couple updates to RPM rules which provide significant clarification to time necessary for RPM monthly management and the nature of communication satisfying the “interactive communication” requirement.

ForaCare D40g

I am sharing my initial thoughts on the ForaCare D40g cellular (3G) BP monitor and glucometer. It is ideally suited for Remote Patient Monitoring. It eliminates the need for patients to have or operate a bluetooth mobile device, as is required to use the Qardio Arm. It also has some innovative time-saving features included in their online monitoring dashboard, Healthview 24/7.

Promotional consideration was provided to me in the form of discounted units for review.

Companion Fora D40g Video