This week I will discuss how the Covid pandemic and innovative new technologies are affecting hypertension control programs and patient decision-making. Multiple studies conducted during the pandemic found that 30 – 50% of patients had canceled and delayed routine medical appointments including yearly physicals. It will take years to sort out the data and implications. Unfortunately, hypertension’s devastating effects on public health continued unabated during this period.
A key insight of these and other hypertension control studies is that patients are much less likely to engage and comply with their doctor's advice when diagnosis and treatment protocols are lengthy and require multiple doctor office visits. During the pandemic, many patients worried about exposure avoided doctors' offices and healthcare facilities. Fortunately, innovative new technologies like Biobeat’s 24BP offer ideal solutions for reducing their anxiety and overcoming these barriers. The differences between legacy blood pressure diagnostic protocols and 24BP's approach are reflected in its five-step process, which requires a single office visit:
1. During the initial visit, the patient is fitted with a small cuffless blood pressure sensor, which is connected to a smartphone app. The patch and app are then connected via Bluetooth and the 24-hour monitoring process begins. Patients return to their normal activities with few requirements beyond keeping their phones nearby to sustain the connection.
2. The BP24 patch will stream continuous blood pressure and related physiological measures to cloud servers. The app will instruct the patient to remove and discard their patch after monitoring is completed.
3. The 24BP analytical systems automatically process and analyze the data using advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.
4. The system forwards the blood pressure profile report within a few hours to the patient and designated physician.
5. The physician uses the profile report to develop a strategy for treating and managing the patient's blood pressure.
The entire process takes less than two days and requires a single office visit. We developed and validated use cases that show how the 24BP process, when compared to legacy technologies and protocols, reduces the number of required office visits by about 80%. It also shortens the time between the initial office visit and the start of treatment by up to 97%!
The BP24 system influences patient decision-making and promotes long-term patient engagement by eliminating frustrating repeat visits and lengthy delays. It also creates new provider revenue opportunities, while reducing long-term payor costs.
Comentários