Children’s Health Launches First-Of-Its-Kind Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Program

DALLAS - Children’s Health℠ has officially launched a comprehensive pediatric Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program—the first of its kind in the nation.

The RPM program will allow clinical staff at Children’s Health to monitor patient health status and progress via secure mobile technologies including one-touch video conferencing for virtual visits from the comfort of a patient’s home. The program will help facilitate more advanced, efficient and patient-focused care management, while enhancing patient compliance.

Currently in its pilot stage, the RPM program will consist of 50 pediatric patients of various ages, ethnicity and geographic locations with the first 15 enrolled from the Children’s Health Liver and Renal Transplant Division.

An outstanding team of health care professionals from the Solid Organ Transplant Division alongside Children’s Health experts solely dedicated to telemedicine and innovation joined forces to create this new program to make life better for children.

“We are incredibly excited to be the first in the nation to launch this new and innovative RPM program for our post-operative solid organ transplant patients,” said Chief of Pediatric Transplant at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Dr. Dev Desai. “This program will allow us to have real-time access to vital data, which is absolutely key to maintaining and improving post-operative care for our transplant patients.”

Recently transplanted patients are routinely required to have twice-weekly appointments for follow-up care and medication management. The RPM program allows patients and their families to remain at home or in school and still be closely monitored. A majority of patients drive several hours to the Dallas campus in order to be seen by Children's Medical Center Dallas specialists. With the new program, some of those trips may be significantly reduced or avoided altogether.

In addition to daily monitoring and care, real-time data collection through the program may help registered nurses and providers predict potential health risks and/or issues to better prepare patients and their families for the future.

“The RPM program will teach our patients how to be active in the ongoing management and monitoring of their health as they grow into adolescents and even adults, and it will hopefully help prevent unnecessary complications down the road,” says Dr. Desai.

Children’s Health engaged AT&T and Vivify Health to put together an integrated telemedicine kit which includes a 4G tablet and wireless health devices that can monitor blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, weight and other vitals through Bluetooth connectivity.

“For the first time ever, we are able to view important patient data in real time to help improve coordination of care and decision making across multiple specialties. This technology will help pave the way for higher-quality patient interactions, decreasing costs through early intervention and all-around better care management,” explains Julie Hall-Barrow, senior director of health care innovation and telehealth at Children’s Health.

Every device utilizes a highly-secured, HIPAA-compliant encryption and authentication process to ensure appropriate use and protection of patient information. Additional features include patient-guided care plans, health surveys and educational videos.

“Children’s Health is committed to the RPM program as the first of its kind in the nation. We will continue to make adjustments and improvements along the way to ensure we are meeting the unique needs of our patients and providing the highest-quality care,” said Hall-Barrow.

Take a look at a recent report about the Children's Health RPM program that aired on CBS 11.

Media Contact:
Email mediarelations@childrens.com or
call 214-456-5310

About Children’s Health System of Texas

Children’s Health System of Texas (Children’s Health℠) is one of the nation’s leading pediatric health care systems, providing a full spectrum of healthcare services for children in Dallas, North Texas and surrounding regions. Children’s Health includes a clinically integrated network featuring the flagship hospital Children’s Health Children’s Medical Center Dallas, as well as Children’s Health Children’s Medical Center Plano and Children’s Specialty Center Southlake, 18 Children’s Health Pediatric Group primary care centers, home health, physician practices and professional services and a pediatric research institute. For more information, please visit www.childrens.com.