Insurance Carriers Roll Back Remote Monitoring, Doctors Warn Vulnerable Pregnant Patients

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — Dr. Susanne Ramos, a Santa Barbara-based OBGYN, says through remote monitoring, she has helped save the lives of her patients in Santa Barbara.

“I saw a normal 30-year-old pregnant mama on Tuesday, and Friday night we were crashing her in the operating room to save both mom and baby's lives,” said Dr. Ramos.
 
“This would be a person that insurance companies would not think of monitoring. The problem is hypertension crisis is a silent killer,” said Dr. Ramos.
 
Remote monitoring is a key part of telehealth, as it enables continuous oversight and timely interventions for chronic conditions from a distance.
 
“It allows for the opportunity to do telehealth. It allows for the opportunity to not have to leave work or find childcare for the other kids to be able to come to a doctor's appointment,” said Dr. Santosh Pandipati, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist.
 
Doctors say the practice became more widely used during Covid, and now is a new standard.
 
“The reasons become standard of care is that the information is not only more, but it's useful. We can find out moms who are having blood pressure issues on the rise without them having to just so happen to be in the office in the hospital when that when that occurs,” said Dr. Nate DeNicola, a, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Telehealth Chair.

Cigna has been the first to narrow coverage, refusing to cover remote blood pressure monitoring for pregnant women unless they are high risk.
 
United Healthcare is also moving to restrict remote patient monitoring nationwide.
 
“A lot of times things develop very fast and quietly. A patient doesn't know she's sick until she's really far along in the disease process. And so the key to a lot of this is capturing the mom as she's starting to develop the rising blood pressure,” said Dr. Pandipati.
  
The CDC says more than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.
 
Dr. Pandipati says delay in seeking care, delay in provider response, and lack of patient knowledge about urgent warning signs are among key contributing factors, but remote patient monitoring helps with early detection.  
 
Doctors are encouraging patients to review their health plans, encourage insurers to restore remote pregnancy monitoring (RPM) coverage for more than just “high-risk” pregnancies.