Remote Cardiac Monitoring: Overview
In healthcare software development since 2005, ScienceSoft leverages its IoMT expertise to design and develop remote cardiac monitoring solutions for real-time visibility into patients’ heart conditions.
Remote Cardiac Monitoring In Brief
Remote cardiac monitoring (RCM) solutions proved to be highly efficient when used for cardiac disease monitoring and prevention, outpatient, postoperative, prenatal and athletic monitoring. The solutions leverage technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning to continuously monitor patients' cardiac parameters. According to the research, RCM helps reduce atrial arrhythmia hospitalizations by 65% and reduce cardiac patients’ hospital stay length by 9-17%.
Remote Cardiac Monitoring Market
The remote cardiac monitoring market was estimated at $4.98 billion in 2021 and expected to amount to $31.67 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 30.3%. The demand for remote heart monitoring solutions grows due to the spread of cardiovascular diseases worldwide and the risks of on-site visits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Remote Heart Monitoring Works
Architecture
A remote cardiac monitoring solution usually consists of the following elements:
Smart cardiac devices
– connected medical devices (e.g., an implantable cardiac monitor, a cardioverter-defibrillator, an artificial pacemaker, a wearable sensor, a loop recorder) that collect cardiac data (e.g., heart rate) and send it to the cloud server for storing and analysis.
Patient mobile application
– for patients to view their cardiac health parameters (e.g., heart rate, cardiac events) and the state of a connected cardiac device, log their symptoms, etc.
Cloud server
– for storing, processing and analyzing device-generated data (e.g., heart rate, tachycardia cases), analyzing patient information from EHR (e.g., new prescriptions), etc.
Doctor application
– providing a cardiologist, a primary care physician, a physiotherapist, other healthcare specialists, with data on connected cardiac device state, patients’ cardiac health reports and alerting medical staff on detected cardiac abnormalities.
Admin web panel
– to manage multiple user role settings (e.g., enable or restrict cardiac monitoring data review and cardiac monitoring reports editing), update cardiac care specialists’ schedules, confirm online appointment requests, etc.
Cardiac rhythm management device monitoring
The solution enables a patient, a cardiac device technician, and a doctor to check data from a patient’s implantable rhythm management device (performance, battery life, etc.) and get notifications on the risks of device malfunction or patient’s health abnormalities.
Cardiac disease prevention
The solution provides a doctor with a patient’s data from an RCM device (e.g., ECG patch) and reports about identified abnormalities (e.g., arrhythmias, palpitations, bradycardia). The doctor can spot the developing pathologies (e.g., atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter), schedule more detailed patient screening, prescribe therapy and medications, etc.
Outpatient and postoperative monitoring
After a patient is discharged from a hospital or diagnosed with a chronic cardiac disease (e.g., heart failure), a cardiac care team can monitor an outpatient’s real-time cardiac data (e.g., via heart rate monitor, blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter) and receive notification if the risk of cardiac complications is identified.
Prenatal cardiac monitoring
For higher-risk pregnancies (patients with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.), the solution enables non-invasive maternal and fetal heart rate monitoring to identify complications early, which results in improved prenatal care quality and maternal and fetal outcomes.
Sports medicine
While training, athletes can use dedicated RCM solutions to get a health state assessment from a sports doctor and consultations on their cardiac health and training program to maximize the benefit of their physical training and reduce heart risks.
Detection of cardiac symptoms
The solution processes cardiac devices’ signals to accurately detect a heartbeat, classify beats, eliminate side noises. Using ML, an advanced RCM solution identifies changes in heart rhythm from normal parameters (e.g., detects arrhythmia, ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation) and notifies patients and doctors.
Cardiac data analytics and automated RCM reports generation
The RCM solution automatically logs, processes and analyzes cardiac data using AI to identify trends and predict cardiac events. The insights (e.g., predicted cardiac events) are visualized on doctor-facing dashboards and reports. Based on this data, doctors can adjust the treatment, training program, or schedule examinations.
Configuration of threshold monitoring parameters
Based on a patient’s health records, a doctor can configure monitoring parameters for the detection of symptoms specific to a patient’s disease. If the measurements exceed pre-set thresholds, the system automatically sends an alert (e.g., an app dashboard alert, email, SMS) to a patient, a cardiologist, a cardiac nurse, etc.
Device failure identification
Thanks to IoT-based device tracking, the RCM solution (e.g., pacemaker remote monitoring system) detects actual and potential hardware failures and device programming errors and alerts a patient, a cardiac technician, or a doctor about them.
Symptoms log for patients
A patient logs cardiac and cardiac-related symptoms (e.g., palpitations, shortness of breath, stress, fatigue) and their lifestyle habits (diet, physical activity, etc.) to provide a cardiac care team with the overall patient’s health state view.
Online patient-doctor communication
Doctors can schedule e-visits to check patients’ health state, provide them with care instructions and feedback on medical tests’ results in real-time, etc. Patients can also initiate communication with a cardiologist using an in-app chat to discuss new symptoms and get advice on their alleviation, or schedule a telemedicine appointment with a doctor.
Remote Cardiac Monitoring Solution: Project Example by ScienceSoft
Customer
A US company providing healthcare, sport, military organizations with research on the population’s health and effective training techniques.
Solution
ScienceSoft delivered an iOS app that can perform evaluation of the initial fitness level, training progress monitoring, identification of the changes in fitness, etc.
Project details
- The evaluation relies on the Heart Rate Variability (HRV), lying-to-standing test plus Valsalva maneuver with deep breathing.
- The app supports Wahoo Fitness, 60beat BLUE Heart Rate, Zephyr wearable heart monitoring devices.
- Based on the analyzed health data, a physician, trainer or medical officer can measure the patient’s response to exercise stress.
Technology Elements for RCM Solutions
Cloud databases, warehouses and storage
AWS
We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.
We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.
Azure
We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.
Azure SQL Database is great for handling large volumes of data and varying database traffic: it easily scales up and down without any downtime or disruption to the applications. It also offers automatic backups and point-in-time recoveries to protect databases from accidental corruption or deletion.
Analytics of cardiac data
AWS
We use Amazon Redshift to build cost-effective data warehouses that easily handle complex queries and large amounts of data.
We use Amazon DynamoDB as a NoSQL database service for solutions that require low latency, high scalability and always available data.
Azure
We leverage Azure Cosmos DB to implement a multi-model, globally distributed, elastic NoSQL database on the cloud. Our team used Cosmos DB in a connected car solution for one of the world’s technology leaders.
Others
Our Apache Cassandra consultants helped a leading Internet of Vehicles company enhance their big data solution that analyzes IoT data from 600,000 vehicles.
We use HBase if your database should scale to billions of rows and millions of columns while maintaining constant write and read performance.
By request of a leading market research company, we have built a Hadoop-based big data solution for monitoring and analyzing advertising channels in 10+ countries.
A large US-based jewelry manufacturer and retailer relies on ETL pipelines built by ScienceSoft’s Spark developers.
Admin web panel development
Back end
Practice
19 years
Projects
200+
Workforce
60+
Our .NET developers can build sustainable and high-performing apps up to 2x faster due to outstanding .NET proficiency and high productivity.
Practice
25 years
Projects
110+
Workforce
40+
ScienceSoft's Java developers build secure, resilient and efficient cloud-native and cloud-only software of any complexity and successfully modernize legacy software solutions.
Practice
34 years
Workforce
40
ScienceSoft's C++ developers created the desktop version of Viber and an award-winning imaging application for a global leader in image processing.
Practice
10 years
Projects
50+
Workforce
30
ScienceSoft's Python developers and data scientists excel at building general-purpose Python apps, big data and IoT platforms, AI and ML-based apps, and BI solutions.
Practice
4 years
ScienceSoft's developers use Go to build robust cloud-native, microservices-based applications that leverage advanced techs — IoT, big data, AI, ML, blockchain.
Practice
16 years
Projects
170
Workforce
55
ScienceSoft's PHP developers helped to build Viber. Their recent projects: an IoT fleet management solution used by 2,000+ corporate clients and an award-winning remote patient monitoring solution.
Practice
10 years
Workforce
100
ScienceSoft delivers cloud-native, real-time web and mobile apps, web servers, and custom APIs ~1.5–2x faster than other software developers.
Front end
Practice
21 years
Projects
2,200+
Workforce
50+
ScienceSoft uses JavaScript’s versatile ecosystem of frameworks to create dynamic and interactive user experience in web and mobile apps.
Workforce
80+
ScienceSoft achieves 20–50% faster React development and 50–90% fewer front-end performance issues due to smart implementation of reusable components and strict adherence to coding best practices.
Practice
13 years
Workforce
100+
ScienceSoft leverages code reusability Angular is notable for to create large-scale apps. We chose Angular for a banking app with 3M+ users.
Mobile applications development (for patients and doctors)
Practice
16 years
Projects
150+
Workforce
50+
ScienceSoft’s achieves 20–50% cost reduction for iOS projects due to excellent self-management and Agile skills of the team. The quality is never compromised — our iOS apps are highly rated.
Practice
14 years
Projects
200+
Workforce
50+
There are award-winning Android apps in ScienceSoft’s portfolio. Among the most prominent projects is the 5-year-long development of Viber, a messaging and VoIP app for 1.8B users.
Practice
11 years
Projects
85+
Workforce
10+
ScienceSoft cuts the cost of mobile projects twice by building functional and user-friendly cross-platform apps with Xamarin.
ScienceSoft uses Cordova to create cross-platform apps and avoid high project costs that may come with native mobile development.
Practice
8 years
Projects
300+
ScienceSoft reduces up to 50% of project costs and time by creating cross-platform apps that run smoothly on web, Android and iOS.
Challenge #1
Accuracy of cardiac measurements can be compromised due to improper usage of remote cardiac monitoring devices by patients.
Challenge #2
The system can misinterpret predictable changes in cardiac data (e.g., change in the heart rhythm due to drug intake) as potential cardiac risks and send false alarms to the patient app and the doctor app.
Cost Drivers and Investments
ScienceSoft defines the cost of development of a remote patient monitoring system for cardiac patients by analyzing the following factors:
General investment size factors
- The complexity of cardiac monitoring solution features (including those in a patient app, a doctor app, and an admin web panel).
- A number of cardiac device types connected to the software.
- Connectivity technologies of cardiac devices (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).
- The number of user roles.
Operational costs
Cloud services usage (e.g., cloud data storage and analytics, cardiac devices connectivity).
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The cost of a remote cardiac monitoring application ranges from $200,000 to $250,000+, according to ScienceSoft’s experience in healthcare IT. |
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Remote Cardiac Monitoring Solution Consulting and Development
With 18 years of experience in healthcare IT and 12 years of experience in IoT, ScienceSoft’s team helps design and build advanced remote cardiac monitoring systems.
Remote cardiac monitoring solution consulting
- Market and competitors’ analysis (for product companies).
- Remote cardiac monitoring app concept productization (for product companies).
- Business and technical requirements elicitation.
- RCM features listing.
- High-level design of scalable software architecture.
- Technology stack selection.
- TCO estimation of the remote cardiac monitoring system.
- ROI calculation.
Remote cardiac monitoring solution development
- Market analysis and RCM solution requirements elicitation (for product companies).
- Scalable software architecture planning.
- Selection of cardiac monitoring devices (if required).
- Sleek UX and UI design.
- Development and quality assurance of the remote cardiac monitoring solution.
- HIPAA, GDPR, MDR, and FDA compliance.
- Application support and evolution (if required).
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT company with 34 years of experience in IT consulting and software development headquartered in Texas, US. Being ISO 13485-certified, we design and develop tailored IoMT solutions for efficient remote patient monitoring according to the requirements of the FDA and the Council of the European Union. We are ready to deliver RCM solutions aimed at improving chronic cardiac disease management and heart conditions treatment.