Large-scale deployment of telemonitoring for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency in France is still a long way off. However, the right ingredients are in place: reimbursement of telemedical monitoring under general law since July 2023, a dedicated registration list (LATM (1)), an early management system (PECAN {2}), maturity of technological tools for non-invasive ventilation (NIV)… But these opportunities to improve the management and monitoring of patients at home remain under-exploited.
Legal limits
Only some 1,500 patients had benefited from remote monitoring of respiratory diseases under the ETAPES program (compared with almost 20,000 for heart failure) {_3} . Despite the above- mentioned advances, this number has hardly taken off today. Organizational obstacles linked to regulations help to explain this state of affairs. The model defined for telemonitoring under common law is based on three players – the patient, the operating physician and the supplier of the digital medical device (DMD) – omitting the essential role of the home healthcare provider (HCP). As a result, deployments are complicated by the mismatch between the regulatory framework and the reality on the ground.
A revision of the nomenclature underway
Fortunately, project leaders can benefit from support, including that of the Belvedair association. Created on the initiative of private lung specialists, it supports medical teams in the implementation of remote monitoring of their patients with respiratory insufficiency (administrative procedures, pre-filtering of alerts, etc.).
At Vestalis, we also offer the service provider the option of contractually acquiring the status of DMN operator. What’s in it for you? To streamline exchanges between the service provider and the medical operator, through a platform that simplifies the centralized management of all aspects of remote monitoring (clinical, administrative and logistical).
Finally, the long-term development of telemonitoring and its financial coverage requires proof of its clinical and organizational impact. In this respect, the manufacturers federated by Snitem are calling for evaluation criteria adapted to the specific features of digital medical devices. All these efforts are converging towards the same goal: to extend the benefits of remote medical monitoring to more patients.
References :
- 1. LATM: List of remote medical monitoring activities
- 2. PECAN: digital advance care
- 3. https: sante gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/animation stand telesurveillance.pdf