We followed up with Marie Menendez, Telehealth Specialist, at Evara Health, after a recent webinar detailing Evara Health’s RPM journey to get the answer to the following question:
How did you alleviate concerns that the RPM program is creating more workload and obtain buy-in from your clinical staff and providers?
For Evara Health, an FQHC that launched their RPM program in April 2022, getting buy-in started early in the process with disseminating patient success stories. Evara had some early RPM program adopters during which a patient submitted concerning biometric readings. The Telehealth nurse recognized the risk and engaged the patient immediately to intervene. As a result, it was identified that the patient was on the verge of experiencing a heart attack and was consequently assisted with timely hospital admission and care that prevented adverse patient outcomes.
This was the big patient success story that won over clinicians in the beginning, and has since been followed by many other similar success stories.
In a recent article for Healthcare IT News, Howard Rubin, CIO at Evara Health, shared this story:
We had an expectant mom on RPM and the nurse identified that she had elevated blood pressure. Again, after a conversation with the patient, the nurse recommended that the patient go to the hospital immediately. It turned out she was experiencing initial stages of eclampsia, which could have threatened both her and her baby’s lives.Howard Rubin, CIO
Evara Health
When the team at Evara Health leads with patient success stories like these, providers are eager to get more patients involved.
Based on their experience, here are 3 tips for getting clinician buy-in and increasing the number of patient referrals into your RPM program:
1. Share Patient Success Stories Early and Often
In addition to sharing that first patient success story, the Telehealth team at Evara would promote the Telehealth & RPM Program on monthly provider calls, quarterly stakeholder calls, marketing campaigns, and through the internal Sharepoint site. Those regular touchpoints helped raise awareness of the program's value and impact, shortly after launch. Now that the program is established and has a steady stream of patient referrals, the team meets monthly to share program updates with the executive leadership team and key stakeholders.
Marie also noted, “we have a lot of initiatives and grant programs that we are participating in right now and a lot of the members are in multiple initiatives, so they hear it from multiple places. Knowing what a big part of our goals are with the RPM program, it just kind of permeated the whole organization.”
2. Minimize the Workload for Providers
Increasingly, successful RPM programs utilize a centralized virtual care team to take patients from referral to enrollment and ensure adoption. Evara Health adopted this approach through their Value-Based Services team, which coordinates care once a patient has been referred into the RPM program. This workflow minimizes the workload for providers. All they need to do is refer the patient in, and the VBS nurses handle patient outreach, education, and engagement with the program.3. Collect Patient Referrals from Multiple Sources
In addition to collecting patient referrals directly from physicians, the team at Evara Health sources new candidates for the RPM program through their EMR, word-of-mouth referrals, and internal contests. There are even bonus opportunities for physicians that meet or exceed quality measures for patient adherence and compliance. - EMR Referrals: run internal reports on non-compliant patients (ex. not taking medication consistently, not attending appointments consistently) or patients with blood pressure outside of desired ranges. This becomes another source of patients for the Value-Based Services team to connect with.
- Word-of-Mouth Referrals: educate your employees about the benefits of the RPM program and they can spread the word in your community about the program. In one example, Marie herself was a referral source, “I was a referral source for someone who is a friend, and I knew that they were a patient here. I was like, ‘hey, tell your provider that we have this program.’”
- Incentivized Referrals: raise awareness of the RPM program among your physicians through internal contests to increase patient referrals and by tying the program back to bonus opportunities for improved patient outcomes.
Cultivating a Culture of RPM Success at Evara Health
Evara Health's RPM journey demonstrates how remaining flexible and focusing on communication can drive program adoption and success. By showcasing the life-saving potential of RPM with real patient stories, they’ve empowered clinicians to become champions of the program. Their diversified patient referral strategy ensures a steady stream of patients benefit from the RPM program. This not only improves patient outcomes and reduces costs, but also fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration across their organization. As their RPM program continues to evolve, Evara stands as a beacon for other healthcare organizations seeking to harness the power of technology to deliver exceptional care, one patient story at a time.
Learn more about Evara Health and their RPM program in this 2.5-minute webinar recap video. 👇