Reimbursement of home blood pressure monitoring is cost beneficial for insurers, but the practice is uncommon--and a group of researchers say that should change.
A lack of evidence that reimbursement is cost beneficial for insurers makes it rare, but researchers--including Alejandro Arrieta, of Florida International University in Miami, and his colleagues--found that savings could range from $33 to $166 per patient in the first year and up to almost $1,400 in the long run of 10 years.
The findings were published in a report published online this week in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.
The researchers developed a decision-analytic model to conduct a cost-benefit analysis from the insurers perspective, according to the report. They used that model to estimate the cost-benefit in the short term and long term, comparing the ratios for home BP monitoring and clinic BP monitoring.
The results provide "strong evidence" for private insurers to reimburse home blood pressure monitoring, promote its use to cut their own costs in the short- and long-term, and to improve healthcare quality, the researchers argued, according to an article on MedPage Today.
Home monitoring isn't the only cost-effective method to monitor patient blood pressure; support also can be found through telemedicine.
However, while home BP monitoring and telemedicine programs may save costs and help patients, for the effects to last, additional provider support services are necessary, as reported by FierceHealthIT.
To learn more:
- read the study
- check out the MedPage Today article