Remote Patient Monitoring for Home Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in New York: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a global public health emergency, overwhelming health systems worldwide and forcing rapid adoption of telemedicine strategies. Introduction: The COVID-19 Precision Recovery Program (PRP) is a remote patient monitoring (RPM) clinical program that was deployed by a New York health system to perform physiologic and symptomatic monitoring for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 diagnoses. Methods: The present cross-sectional descriptive study reports retrospective data collected from the PRP during the COVID-19 crisis in New York. Results: One hundred twelve patients were included; mean (standard deviation) age was 49 (17.6) years and 60.7% were female. Most prevalent reported comorbidities were hypertension (36.3%), hypercholesterolemia (26.5%), and diabetes (17.7%). Less than half (44.6%) had a positive polymerase chain reaction COVID test (PCR-test), 33% had an unknown COVID status, and 17.9% had a negative test result. The most commonly reported symptoms included dyspnea (55.4%) and anxiety (55.4%). Anxiety was ranked as the most severe symptom (9.8%), followed by difficulty concentrating (4.5%). Symptom presentation did not significantly differ based on PCR-test status. Discussion: RPM can be a valuable tool for delivering care to patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 diagnoses. Considering similarities in symptom presentation between PCR-test statuses, access to COVID-related clinical care should not be based on PCR-test results. Conclusions: RPM has strong potential to assist in the effective management of suspected COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; digital health; physiologic monitoring; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; telehealth; telemedicine.