Bridging the Gap: How eCareMD’s Remote Monitoring Enhanced Diabetes Care in Rural Regions

Client Background

The client operates a traditional clinic in Alaska, delivering care to patients who have diabetes. The client gained recognition nearby for their passion, medical expertise, and value-based patient care delivery.

Business challenges

With the burden of managing a large patient population over time, the client recognized the need to implement a remote patient monitoring program in the practice for several reasons, as given below. This solution brought a sense of ease and efficiency to the client's operations.

1. Patient’s unawareness of increased blood sugar levels

While attending multiple patients through scheduled in-person visits, the client has identified that the patient’s blood sugar level increases between the visits, and the patient and the client were unaware of it. This increased blood sugar level causes a range of symptoms, including excessive thirst, hunger, fatigue, and an urge to urinate in more significant amounts than usual.

2. Lack of patient participation in treatment plan

The client has observed that the patient does not adhere to the treatment plan, like following the meal times. Medication consumption and lifestyle routine are to be followed, i.e., exercise and sleep. Diet etc. This inattention to the treatment plan has affected the patient's health outcomes.

3. Challenges in real-time blood glucose tracking

It is difficult for the client to get patient health insights in real-time and track blood glucose levels when patients are at home. As a result, the client needs help delivering quality patient care.

4. Increased patient hospital readmission rate

Due to the patient's unawareness of increased blood sugar levels and lack of adherence to the treatment plan, the client has experienced a high readmission rate, and tackling it with a few medical experts was a significant challenge for the client.

Solution

The client approached Medarch Inc. for eCareMD software to improve patient health outcomes and enable real-time patient health monitoring. Upon receiving the client's approval, our team meticulously implemented the eCareMD software into the client’s practice, followed by multiple interactions and demonstrations by our business analysts and subject matter experts with the client.

Solution Highlights

eCareMD's software is a standout in the market, offering remote patient monitoring through cutting-edge technologies. It provides unique solutions to the challenges faced by the client, such as real-time data transmission and system-generated alerts.
Some of the key features of our software that addressed the client’s challenges are:

1. Integration of smart glucometer device

After implementing eCareMD software into the client’s practice, the software was integrated with a remote monitoring device, an intelligent glucometer. This cellular-based smart glucometer empowered patients to take control of their health by monitoring their blood sugar levels at home, significantly enhancing patient engagement.

2. System-guided medication reminders

Our eCareMD’s customizable medication reminders feature helped providers configure the reminders by selecting the frequency, i.e., hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, reminder type email, SMS, and date. The educational materials increased patient awareness and understanding of their condition.
Also, the software enabled care providers to send educational materials that educate the patient about lifestyle routines to be followed and the advantages of adhering to the treatment plan; this increased the patient’s confidence and awareness, resulting in increased patient participation in following the treatment plan.

3. Real-time patient health data transmission and monitoring



The remote monitoring devices continuously collect and transmit the patient blood glucose readings to the care provider’s eCareMD dashboard in real-time. This helped care providers track the changes and trends in patients' blood sugar levels and make interventions if they exceeded the threshold levels.

4. System-generated alerts and notifications

The increased patient hospital readmission rate and emergency visits were significantly reduced with the help of the eCareMD software’s alerts and notifications feature. The system-generated alerts played a crucial role in this, demonstrating the power of early intervention in patient care. This early intervention helped care providers identify potential health issues and avoid patient hospital readmission and emergency visits.

Value Delivered

Here are some critical value-delivered highlights following the implementation of the eCareMD software in the client’s practice.

1. Increased patient awareness of their blood glucose levels

Using the intelligent glucometer, the patients could track and monitor their blood sugar levels in real-time and at home. This helped them track the reasons for the increase in blood sugar levels.

2. Improved patient participation and medication adherence

Features like customizable medication reminders and educational material functionality resulted in increased patient participation and treatment adherence.

3. 20% reduction in patient hospital readmission rate

The client achieved a 20% reduction in hospital readmission rates through remote patient monitoring.

4. Early detection of potential health concerns

The alerts and notifications feature helped care providers detect potential health concerns early and avoid patient health complications by making early interventions.