The emerging role
of remote patient
monitoring

As health care grows increasingly virtual,
tech giants and health startups alike are
racing to develop tools that can monitor
health — or even diagnose disease — from
a distance.
Reporting from the frontiers
of health and medicine

 Table of contents
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I N T R O D U CT I O N

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S E C T I O N I I I : T E C H N O LO GY
BA R R I E R S K E E P R E M OT E TO O L S
F R O M R E AC H I N G T H E I R M A R K E T
P OT E N T I A L

03

S E CT I O N I : H OW T H E PAT I E N TCONSUMER HAS SHAPED THE
R E M OT E PAT I E N T M O N I TO R I N G
L A N D S CA P E

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S E C T I O N I V: T H E I M PAC T O F
R E G U L AT I O N A N D R E I M B U R S EMENT POLICIES

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S E CT I O N I I : T H E L I M I TAT I O N S
OF CURRENT AND FUTURE
TA R G E T S

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S E C T I O N V: W H AT ’ S N E X T F O R
R E M OT E CA R E ?

 T H E E M E R G I N G R O L E O F R E M OT E PAT I E N T M O N I TO R I N G

INTRODUCTION

Introduction
As health care grows increasingly virtual, one field of health tech is exploding:
remote patient monitoring.
Once dominated by bulky devices designed for patients with a narrow set of
severe chronic disorders, remoting monitoring has expanded dramatically,
opening up the potential for new kinds of care, from smartwatches equipped
with electrocardiographs to inhalers with built-in digital trackers. At the same
time, advances in the field have created the potential for even healthy people
to pinpoint otherwise silent ailments.
For the first time, hospitals, clinicians, and older medical device giants are taking
a backseat as large tech companies and consumers drive the change.
That shift has only been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not
only rendered many aspects of in-person care difficult or unsafe — but has also
cast an unflinching light on the shortcomings of traditional care that RPM can
help address. The pandemic has also upended elements of the traditional clinical
trial process, pushing RPM tools into a pivotal role in a growing number of virtual
clinical trials.
The market has responded aggressively. Health tech startups — particularly those
with remote monitoring at their core — are fundraising more than ever before.
As the sector booms, tech giants and scrappy health startups alike are fighting to
stake out their territory. Massive tech companies like Apple and Alphabet are
aggressively moving into RPM, looking for a way to give millions of people more
insight into — and control over — their health.

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 T H E E M E R G I N G R O L E O F R E M OT E PAT I E N T M O N I TO R I N G

INTRODUCTION

Hardware and data startups like AliveCor and iRhythm are disrupting those
efforts with their own class of cutting-edge devices. And digital health companies
including Onduo and Propeller Health are carving out their space with virtual
care platforms that are both dependent on — and enabled by — remote devices.
The fast-changing field was further rocked by the August 2020 news that telehealth
giant Teladoc will buy virtual care provider Livongo — an $18.5 billion transaction
that positions the newly combined company to dominate parts of the RPM sector
using Livongo’s connected devices for blood pressure and glucose monitoring.
For all of its growth, the field still has plenty to prove. Can virtual care and remote
monitoring work as well as in-person treatment, or even better? Will the tools help
employers, insurers, and patients themselves cut costs? And how can regulators and
payers keep up with the industry’s constant evolution?
In this report, we’ll explore how a new class of patient-consumer is driving change
in RPM, investigate the evidence behind new technologies, and examine what the
future of the field looks like. We’ll also bring you perspectives from the leaders of
some of the sector’s most promising and prominent companies, including Omada
Health, Onduo, and Propeller Health.

OV E R V I E W

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Section I: How the patient-consumer has shaped the RPM landscape

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Section II: The limitations of current and future targets

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Section III: How virtual care barriers keep remote tools from reaching their potential

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Section IV: Regulations have not kept pace with the technology

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Section V: What’s next for remote care?

Erin Brodwin, Report author
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