Case Management Insights Through Wearable Technology

Advances in technology have transformed the world of case management by improving communication and reporting. Today’s newest technologies like  wearables and supportive apps offer an opportunity to further streamline and accelerate case management and patient monitoring for behavioral health treatment.

Case management provides ongoing supportive care to individuals and ensures that they have the resources they need. It should enhance treatment participation and retention among individuals suffering from substance use disorder. By adding technology for monitoring abstinence from problem substances, we enable whole-person case management, giving a fuller picture of the overall process of recovery after leaving the treatment environment and more efficient use of a precious resource—people. 

Leaving Treatment

Leaving the treatment environment can be a challenging time for individuals. They’re faced with new routines and old circumstances that may bring back challenges that led to treatment. By offering real-time monitoring tools and  supportive resources, case managers can help the individual through these transitions. Vivi360 allows treatment providers to offer comprehensive aftercare monitoring and ongoing case management that contributes to improved access, participation, and client outcomes. 

Technology and Case Management

While it may seem counterintuitive that data and technology is at the heart of improving patient experience, technology really enables the kind of personalized care and assessments that can help to truly measure the behavioral health of individuals.

Historically, behavioral health diagnosis has involved less data, due to the limitations and subjective nature of many assessments. Unlike an assessment like an MRI scan that looks at organs and structures in the body to aid in diagnosis and treatment, behavioral health assessments are more subjective and vary by provider. They have relied on what can be inferred about the individual’s mental state from their social interactions, mood, movements, tone of voice, word choices, and expressions. The methodologies used in assessments vary, and the documentation and frequency do, too.

Passive data collection through wearables

By employing technology as passive collector of data we can reduce some of the subjectivity of those methodologies. Using wearable devices and patient devices combined with traditional survey instruments administered directly to the patient through their smartphone, we open up a new kind of case management and follow-up. This kind of real-time remote patient monitoring uncovers concerns that traditional methodologies can’t.

On the analysis side, artificial intelligence and machine learning can be incredibly helpful for case management. By examining the data generated by patient monitoring, machine learning systems can start to examine risk factors and make case managers aware of potential concerns.

The future of case management

Behavioral health is facing a combination of different crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, increases in deaths due to substance use disorders, increases in suicide, and racial injustice. The data and analysis made possible by monitoring technology can help with these challenges.  Innovations like wearable monitoring in case management methodology will enable case managers to better serve the behavioral health needs of individuals. Using these tools can improve health care outcomes and provide data that help to lay the groundwork for future care

Care providers can build on technologies like Vivi360 to deliver better care and better monitoring for their patients. For insurers, behavioral health technology will provide greater ability to apply advanced analytics that will support their members’ behavioral health. Increased data can enable providers to create and deliver preventive, personalized behavioral health solutions supported by advanced predictive modeling and analytics.