100% remote monitoring eliminating barriers to care

A medical weight loss and direct primary care facility has reduced the time spent seeing patients in-clinic by 50%, by using QardioMD to track patients’ vitals and body composition.

Dr. Tro Kalayjian is a board-certified Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine Physician, and Medical Director at Dr Tro’s Medical Weight Loss & Direct Primary Care Center. When he first set up his clinic four years ago, he was looking for the best way to manage obesity, diabetes, weight loss and hypertension without the need for his patients to visit his practice. “Patients normally spend thirty minutes getting to their practice, then another thirty sitting in the waiting-room, all just to show that their blood pressure had risen by 10 points. We wanted to eliminate barriers to care,” details Dr. Tro.

Helping patients prevent weight regain

Two years ago, Dr. Tro found his solution; QardioMD, a remote patient monitoring platform that displays the data of both blood pressure monitors and body composition scales all in one user-friendly, cleanly presented interface. “I thought to myself it was very bizarre to give patients blood pressure cuffs and scales at home without having access to that data. Why would I wait a year to see that they’ve gained 30 pounds, when I can see that they’ve gained 5 pounds? We’re helping people lose weight, so we want to be able to adjust their medications straightaway. This is why I use Qardio.”

Being able to see data increases patient accountability and care

In Dr. Tro’s experience, patients want accountability. Viewing all patient data on the QardioMD dashboard has helped keep patients engaged and accountable: “Patients come to us wanting accountability, so knowing that their doctor cares enough to see their data is really impactful for them. In turn, this helps patients realize they need to be concerned about themselves and take action. We’re reminding them to stick to the tendencies that help them be healthier.” For increased accountability, Dr. Tro finds the ability to set parameters for patient prioritization on the QardioMD portal particularly useful, as a way to remind patients to take a measurement. “Overall, it’s great to be able to nudge anybody who hasn’t reported. We are then able to isolate the patients who are at the most risk.”

“In ten years, I feel the whole healthcare industry will move remote, as fewer patients will want to go to practices. Remote patient care is only going to grow.”

Often, people’s weight can increase and decrease quickly, which can make it difficult to pinpoint what methods worked. By capturing data from Qardio’s body composition scale, QardioBase2, Dr. Tro is able to analyze patients’ long term trends, and go back to determine what caused the weight regain or loss. As Dr. Tro explains, “The quality of data is important. If there’s a worry, we’re able to address it immediately. With the help of Qardio, we are a highly connected office, as we are reaching people that want more involvement.”

A good customer support team makes all the difference

Implementing a technical solution can be difficult. Often, service providers sell you the platform and then move on. As Dr. Tro explains, “the Qardio customer support team was really supportive. We purchased bulk amounts of Qardio devices and the Qardio team shipped them, so the logistics side was really helpful.”

Predicting weight regain is the ultimate goal

By having continuous patient data, Dr. Tro is beginning to see signals that are being repeated, across the majority of his patients. As Dr. Tro says, “we are seeing that as the patient’s water weight increases, so does their blood pressure and heart rate, and that typically predicts weight regain. Once we see these patterns occurring, that is our chance to reach out and step in to take action.”

Dr. Tro’s practice is looking to increase the number of patients who use Qardio devices. With COVID-19 impacting face-to-face appointments, Dr. Tro found that having a remote patient monitoring solution in place prior to the global pandemic allowed for an easy transition to go from 50% to 100% remote patient care.