Q: Can you tell us about your company and the challenges you are solving within the remote monitoring space?

A: Propeller Health works to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life by partnering with healthcare providers to support patients in managing their chronic respiratory conditions. Our solution–which consists of inhaler sensors, a patient mobile app and a clinician web portal–enables remote monitoring programs and simplifies virtual care by passively tracking patient medication use and providing clinicians with a clear view into their patients’ usage and adherence trends. With objective visibility, clinicians can assess how their patients are self-managing their conditions in between clinical visits and identify which patients may be at a greater risk for exacerbations or require interventions.

Q: How does your company differentiate from other remote monitoring vendors?

A: Propeller’s primary focus is engaging patients and providers in the management of asthma and COPD–two of the world’s most significant and burdensome health challenges. Our digital health platform has been rigorously studied, resulting in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 100 peer-reviewed published abstracts. It continues to demonstrate improved clinical outcomes such as increased medication adherence and reduced rescue inhaler use. 

We have a comprehensive portfolio of FDA-cleared sensors compatible with more than 80 percent of inhalers on the U.S. market, so patients across a variety of populations such as pediatric, geriatric and/or underserved minorities have access to our solution. Propeller can also integrate with leading Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems such as Cerner and Epic, so clinicians can remotely monitor patients and provide virtual care within their native workflows.

Q: What are some of the biggest changes your company has seen around how health systems are approaching remote monitoring since 2020?

A: Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen increasing numbers of health systems implement or consider adopting digital health tools. One of the greatest demonstrated benefits of remote monitoring over the last two years has been the ability to identify patients who are successfully self-managing, which helps reduce unnecessary in-person visits and minimizes viral exposure among patients and clinicians. More importantly, remote monitoring allows clinicians to identify those patients that absolutely need a clinical intervention but may have been avoiding their in-person clinical visits due to concerns about the pandemic. Also, recent changes in coding, coverage and reimbursement–CMS’s remote therapeutic monitoring codes, for example–may facilitate even greater adoption of digital health tools. We believe these tools are critical for health systems to continue to demonstrate value to their patients during the pandemic and beyond. 

And slowly but surely, we are seeing health systems and providers inch closer to true value-based care models, for which digital health tools like Propeller are critical.

Q: What does an ideal client look like? How are health systems best organized for success in remote monitoring?

A: An ideal client for a remote monitoring program would be committed to digital health and understand how it can enhance, rather than replace, traditional clinical care. They would also have an internal champion to shepherd its adoption, in addition to an executive sponsor to help remove roadblocks during its implementation. Lastly, an ideal candidate would have the desire to integrate digital health data into their EHR at an enterprise level and streamline all workflows. 

Health systems will be most successful in implementing a remote monitoring program if they identify their target patient population in advance, clearly define objectives or metrics for success and have internal champions within their organizations.

Q: What measurable outcomes have you seen from your clients who have prioritized remote monitoring?

A: Our peer-reviewed published studies have demonstrated that digital health platforms that enable remote monitoring can increase medication adherence up to 58 percent in patients with asthma, reduce rescue inhaler use up to 36 percent in patients with COPD and improve overall chronic respiratory disease control.

Q: What major functional enhancements and/or product investments are you making in the near term to keep up with the evolution of remote monitoring?

A: As remote monitoring continues to evolve, Propeller will remain committed to expanding the reach of our digital health platform to more health systems via EHR integrations. This will make it easier for clinicians to access platform data through their EHR without disrupting their native workflows. Propeller will also continue to streamline the patient recruitment process, supporting seamless patient adoption and engagement so clinicians can spend more time providing care. Finally, Propeller is investing in market access initiatives to accelerate digital health policymaking in the U.S.

Q: How is your company partnering with clients as reimbursements and use cases shift?

A: Propeller continues to directly contract with health systems who may be able to take advantage of remote monitoring codes, especially organizations experiencing a high incidence of asthma and COPD.

Q: What are the biggest opportunities health systems should be thinking about this year when it comes to remote monitoring?

A: Health systems should consider adopting a digital health tool for remote monitoring if they’re looking to drive brand loyalty, ensure holistic patient data can be accessed within medical records, identify patients who need immediate intervention, and help providers understand which patients in their panel are well-controlled.

One of the most critical therapeutic areas where health systems should begin or expand their digital transformation is chronic respiratory care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic lower respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD are the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. Respiratory-related exacerbations and hospitalizations can often be prevented with a clearer understanding of patients’ disease control status and prompt interventions–all things that remote monitoring solutions can easily enable with reliable, timely data.

Q: How do you see remote monitoring evolving in 2022 and beyond?

A: Healthcare is already seeing a steady shift toward value-based care, and we believe that the expansion of remote monitoring in 2022 and beyond will further accelerate this trend. Since the benefits of remote monitoring have already been demonstrated across numerous clinical studies, digital health players will likely continue to focus on the evolution of primary care and innovative care management models through remote monitoring. An uptick in remote monitoring adoption will create new avenues for driving positive patient behavior change through value-based care, improving patient quality of life and increasing value to health systems.