Security Sales & Integration February 2022 - 55

in remote, virtual physician visits due to the
necessity of social distancing and shutdowns.
As the pandemic continued much longer than
most expected, physician visits and healthcare
compliance suffered and, in many cases, led
to worsening of health issues and diseases for
some people. This hastened the RPM systems
need and implementation. With many subscribers
these systems are augmented with inhome
PERS monitoring that has resulted in
exponential growth of this hybrid offering.
RPM comes with a variety of components.
The in-home solution is comprised of the base
system, peripheral monitoring devices such as
blood pressure, pulse, oxygen, scales, temperature,
glucose, etc. The element that brings it
all together is the backend portal - mobile
applications and clinical dashboard that interface
with hospital systems as well as clinical call
centers for proper patient monitoring, notifications
and management. These are the main
components, but all elements of the ecosystem
may not be necessary for every patient.
For example, the foundational system is
typically a cellular-based, 4G LTE PERS base
station with RPM capabilities required for all
subscribers. The type and extent of peripheral
monitoring devices will vary from patient
to patient based on their conditions and/or
requirements. The backend and clinical dashboard
that supports the monitoring and communications
is an essential element where these
services will vary.
In the simplest form, the private pay market
typically subscribes to the services for a variety
of reasons and utilizes the platform, mobile
applications and portal to log and monitor
a loved one's vitals. This is also utilized to
communicate results to physicians during an
in-person or virtual visit. The only professional
monitoring structure element would be as it
relates to the traditional PERS segment of the
system by a specialty, wholesale center such as
Rapid Response or COPS. Anelto is an example
of a manufacturer offering the hybrid RPM
approach by developing the hardware, portal
and dashboards.
The subscriber base typically subsidized
through Medicare or other government programs
usually mandates the inclusion of a
clinical call center and/or additional support
services beyond the typical PERS reactive monitoring.
Some of these services may be available
through monitoring providers like Rapid
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Response or COPS; others on the clinical side
may entail different third-party relationships.
Those alliances bring the additional support of
achieving proper compliance beyond monitoring
vital sign threshold variances.
In some structures, supporting a clinical
care organization with management of the
technology and PERS monitoring element
may be a good channel for a traditional PERS
company. A variety of creative relationships
could allow a traditional company to participate
in a portion of this growth market even
though they don't provide the clinical support
side of the offering. Aligning with home
healthcare agencies and other clinical-based
organizations provides a path for certain,
skilled technology partners that understand
and serve a portion of this channel.
mPERS Travels Well
Certain platforms have provided a great contribution
to expanding the reliability and value-added
services now available along with a
traditional PERS or mPERS subscription. In
addition to the value that cellular communications
offer, location-based services leveraged
along with GPS and WiFi pinpointing have allowed
manufacturers to develop improvements
that provide tremendous additional value over
legacy systems and platforms. Some of these
features and additions that at one time were
niche are now mainstream.
The key feature of most mPERS solutions is
the ability to track a user accurately and rapidly
utilizing the GPS location-based tracking
technology and features. It's important dealers
understand that just because a manufacturer
states that a product is mPERS, it doesn't necessarily
guarantee it uses GPS and the best of location-based
services technology available. In fact,
it doesn't even assure what technology is used to
attempt location accuracy. Understanding the
type of location-based technology and cellular
evolution utilized is essential, and the first step
in deciding on an mPERS vendor partner.
In the past and even sometimes in this current
market, some products simply use A-GPS
(assisted, or augmented, global positioning system)
as their sole technology. Although A-GPS
is valuable when used in conjunction with
GPS, alone it pales in comparison and really
doesn't offer a lot of value. Both technologies
help determine location. GPS devices do so by
directly communicating with satellites moving
As the population ages,
manufacturers and service
providers are committed to
delivering a meaningful variety
of products, platforms and
quality services.
FEBRUARY 2022 Security Sales & Integration 55
Some of these
services may be
available through
monitoring
providers like
Rapid Response or
COPS; others on
the clinical side
may entail
different
third-party
relationships.
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Security Sales & Integration February 2022

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