Written by Sumeet Maniar, CEO, WellBrain
Continued From Part One
Monitoring Adherence to Non-Opioid Treatments
Given the links between chronic pain and mental health, a large part of managing chronic pain is about remotely monitoring patients’ sleep, mood, and pain levels on a weekly basis.
Patients can use their phones to submit this information digitally, and physicians then use it to collate scales of anxiety, depression, and movement—which can all impact chronic pain—and use this data to identify any red flags.
Instead of a red flag becoming the reason that a patient is admitted to ER, practitioners who monitor their patients’ health remotely can use them to call patients into a medical center for a preemptive check up.
And there’s strong evidence to suggest that remote behavioral health management tools are working. For example, WellBrain’s remote patient monitoring platform (RPM) has demonstrated an 18% reduction in ER visits and a sustained reduction of chronic pain.
These tools have already been used to monitor other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart conditions, and are proven to reduce healthcare costs and improve patients’ healthcare journeys.
However, these integrated approaches come with many challenges inherent of any new treatment modalities. Given that most physicians weren’t trained to use these non-prescription treatment methods in medical school, some are reluctant to dive into offering them until more data is published.
Until more practitioners begin to put their faith in these treatment options, it will be difficult to monitor patient adherence and their clinical efficacy, claims Eric Rodriguez, Chief Commercial Officer of WellBrain.
For Rodriguez, patient acceptance and compliance with alternate treatments such as remote patient monitoring is dependent on the proactive advocacy of the clinician. In order for patients to adhere, the doctors must articulate how these treatments would benefit the management of their chronic condition.
Achieving Optimal Patient Outcomes
Ultimately, it comes down to a change in mindset for both patient and doctor: from simply prescribing a pill for pain, to using a holistic approach that tackles how a patient’s mind is linked to the pain they’re experiencing.
While remote monitoring of a patients’ mental health requires a change in paradigm, the clinical outcomes justify any acclimation required. And thanks to digital healthcare platforms like RPM, this process is now easy to implement with minimal workflow disruption.
About the Author: Sumeet Maniar is an internet pioneer and digital executive who has driven e-commerce and helped Fortune 500 companies best leverage the internet. He has also played a big part in the online video games industry, trademarking Free2Play and running one of the first Western companies to use the freemium micro-transaction successfully, both locally and worldwide. Among others, Sumeet started the companies K2 Network and Gamiana.com, and his companies were among first to open the Turkish, Brazilian, Indian, and other markets in higher-end gaming. In addition to his significant experience in driving global growth, Sumeet created one of the world’s first e-Pin systems, worked on the team that created Orbitz, and webified Transmedia’s business into i-dine. In addition to all this, Sumeet has experience in management consulting, telecommunications, network systems, and manufacturing at Worldcom, Accenture, and Xerox. His first startup, Netconcepts, was created in 1995. Sumeet holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
