Not Home Alone: Leveraging Telehealth and Informatics to Create a Lean Model for COVID-19 Patient Home Care

Abstract

In response to the emerging COVID-19 public health emergency in March 2020, the Medical University of South Carolina rapidly implemented an analytics-enhanced remote patient monitoring (RPM) program with state-wide reach for SARS-CoV-2-positive patients. Patient-reported data and other analytics were used to prioritize the sickest patients for contact by RPM nurses, enabling a small cadre of RPM nurses, with the support of ambulatory providers and urgent care video visits, to oversee 1234 patients, many of whom were older, from underserved populations, or at high risk of serious complications. Care was escalated based on prespecified criteria to primary care provider or emergency department visit, with 89% of moderate- to high-risk patients treated solely at home. The RPM nurses facilitated the continuity of care during escalation or de-escalation of care, provided much-needed emotional support to patients quarantining at home and helped find medical homes for patients with tenuous ties to health care.

Keywords

• telehealth
• telemedicine
• remote patient monitoring
• COVID-19