Dr. Saurabh Chandra, board-certified critical care physician, is the Chief Telehealth Officer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Center for Telehealth. Chandra and his team deployed a remote patient monitoring (RPM) program for chronic conditions and illnesses. Funded by the Federal Communications Commission as part of a “Connected Care” pilot project, UMMC received $2.37 million for the next 3 years to enroll 6,000 patients from rural Mississippi. We look forward to sharing program outcomes over the next few years!
This pilot project provides patients, mainly low-income or veterans, with broadband internet access and RPM technologies to decrease healthcare delivery costs routinely incurred from chronic illness care and increase one-on-one telehealth visits between providers and patients. RPM devices allow providers to capture important health data from the comfort of the patients’ home using devices such as Bluetooth enabled blood pressure cuffs, glucometer, spirometers and more. The RPM program addresses an array of critical health conditions, including diabetes and hypertension.
UMMC Center for Telehealth is one of two federally designated Centers of Excellence in Telehealth and has extensive experience in remote patient monitoring. In previous years, UMMC has successfully led RPM programs with a focus on diabetes care and hypertension management. Through the previous programs, the Center has gathered strong data showing RPM improves clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and program retention rates.
The South Central Telehealth Resource Center and UMMC Center for Telehealth have a long-standing working relationship and look forward to continued efforts together. Presently, the UMMC Center for Telehealth and the SCTRC are collaborating with several additional National partners to develop and host the upcoming SEARCH 2021 National Telehealth Research Symposium.
For more information, please visit:
https://www.umc.edu/Research/Centers-and-Institutes/Centers/Telehealth_Center_of_Excellence/Home.html
