MedBridge’s RTM Solution Improves Patient Activation by 243 Percent at CORA Health Services
CORA Health Services, a multi-clinic provider of rehab therapy, saw a 69 percent improvement in patient retention by partnering with MedBridge, the industry-leading digital health solution for rehab therapy, to incorporate remote monitoring into its digital care program.
Led by the MedBridge RTM Solution, remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) is continuing to drive striking improvements in patient engagement and reimbursements across the healthcare industry.
By partnering with MedBridge to add RTM to its digital patient care toolbox, CORA Health Services has experienced a dramatic rise in patient engagement, demonstrating the remarkable effectiveness of using remote monitoring to power digital patient care. Since incorporating remote monitoring, the multi-clinic rehabilitation provider has seen a 243 percent increase in patient activation, a 69 percent improvement in patient retention across six visits, and a 27 percent improvement in outcomes. They also reached an average RTM reimbursement rate of $152.51 per patient.
“When MedBridge approached us with their therapeutic alliance initiative, I hesitated, as our new staff training is so long already and includes so many hours of training,” said Jessica Heath-Byerly, PT, DPT, Executive Director of Clinical Education at CORA Health Services. “But now, it’s a necessity. It’s a priority to all of our clinicians, we rolled it out across all 200 of our clinics, and we tie it to every initiative. It’s that impactful, it makes that much of a difference to our patients, and it has shifted the culture here at CORA.”
For many outpatient rehab organizations, low patient engagement is a frustrating challenge that leads to poor outcomes, dissatisfied patients, and lost revenue. But like CORA, many organizations are discovering that digital patient care powered by remote monitoring significantly increases both patient engagement and patient activation—the measure of a patient’s understanding, competence, and willingness to participate in care decisions and processes.
“These groundbreaking results show that using RTM in tandem with digital patient care tools like online home exercise programs and telehealth can help healthcare providers future-proof their organizations and improve the health and satisfaction of their patients by encouraging an even higher level of patient engagement and accountability—especially given the recent announcement from the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) not to limit coverage,” said Craig Johansen, MedBridge Director of Research and Insights.
RTM is quickly becoming recognized as a treatment modality that successfully improves patient motivation, outcomes, and the therapeutic alliance by incentivizing ongoing patient-provider check-ins and encouraging patients to regularly log data such as exercise completion and feedback on pain and difficulty. And the RTM codes released by Medicare in early 2022 have allowed outpatient rehab providers to bill for remote episodic patient care when following protocols demonstrating patient participation.
About CORA Health Services
Founded in 1998, CORA Health Services is a rehabilitation provider offering physical therapy and occupational therapy services in 10 states in more than 250 clinic locations. Laser-focused on clinical outcomes, CORA uses a data-driven approach to improve quality and has moved quickly to adopt new technology to their workflow to enhance patient care.
