In rural areas, there are often special challenges in providing care for patients with chronic diseases.
In rural areas, there are often special challenges in providing care for patients with chronic diseases. The population density is lower, distances to specialists or hospitals can be far, and there are fewer opportunities for adequate local care. Therefore, it is all the more important to ensure care through local primary care physicians.
Telemonitoring can offer a solution in this context as it enables more frequent monitoring without patients having to travel long distances. However, there are also specific challenges to be overcome, such as a lower availability of trained personnel or sometimes poorer internet connectivity.
“Especially our older patients are often less mobile and greatly appreciate that they don't have to come to the clinic as often.”
In Dr. Skuras' general practice, telemonitoring is conducted in collaboration with trained medical assistants to improve treatment outcomes. By billing it as an individual health service (IGeL), additional revenue can be generated. The telemonitoring tool can also be used temporarily, for example, to support medication adjustment after a hypertension diagnosis and save patients from frequent visits to the clinic.
How has telemonitoring affected the care of your patients?
Telemonitoring allows us to simultaneously and closely monitor many patients with chronic conditions such as heart failure and hypertension. Previously, we had rare insights into the well-being of our patients, which is not optimal for chronic conditions. Now we have new data on a daily basis and we can quickly respond to changes. This provides more security for our patients and improves their treatment outcomes.
How have your patients responded to telemonitoring?
Our patients have responded very positively to telemonitoring. They use the devices daily and gain more control over their health. From testimonials, we have also learned that our patients feel more reassured when they can access their own data.
Especially our older patients are often less mobile and greatly appreciate that they don't have to come to the clinic as often. Overall, telemonitoring has contributed to increasing patient satisfaction.
What advantages do you see compared to traditional clinic workflows?
By using Noah Labs, we have significantly improved our clinic workflows. We can use our time much more efficiently and focus on our patients more effectively. Unfortunately, telemonitoring is currently only reimbursed for cardiologists in private practice, even though we as general practitioners see a large number of heart failure patients. Therefore, we are working together with the General Practitioner Association to advocate for reimbursement for general practitioners so that telemonitoring can be successful on a broader scale and the costs do not burden the patients as they currently do. However, telemonitoring already reduces the effort for healthcare providers today and enables more efficient care for a large number of patients, providing important benefits for both patients and healthcare providers.
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