Extended Follow Up of Hypertension Management Using Remote Patient Monitoring

Investigators at Northwestern University will partner with Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Omron”) to conduct a pragmatic follow up study of a blood pressure remote patient monitoring system (RPM) system for Medicare patients with hypertension. The primary objective is to better understand how patients’ remote monitoring of blood pressure and the direct transmission of this data to a healthcare system’s EHR can be used by the patient and the care team to support optimal hypertension care. During 2020 and 2021, six Northwestern Medicine care practices participated in pilot studies of the Omron VitalSight™ RPM system. By the end of the second pilot period, approximately 287 patients from these sites had received an order for RPM. The follow up study which we propose conducing in Northwestern Medical Group primary care practices will: evaluate the longer-term blood pressure and explore renal outcomes among the patients prescribed RPM between November 18, 2020 and August 14, 2021 from the six pilot practices and compare these outcomes to propensity-score-matched controls drawn from 20 Northwestern Medical Group practices that were not part of the pilots. We will make comparisons of data obtained through the course of routine care delivery from RPM-prescribed patients and matched control patients. RPM-prescribed patients and their matched cohort will be followed until August 14, 2022. This will produce a 12-month follow up period for the entire cohort, a 15-month follow up period for 75% of the cohort and an 18-month follow up period for approximately 23% of the cohort.