By Rhonda Bray, Founder and CEO, Rhythm Management Group
The past 12 months have certainly proved challenging as the global pandemic continued, creating massive hurdles for the healthcare sector and patients alike. Fortunately, technology has played a key role in clearing some of these obstacles. 2021 was a milestone year for Rhythm Management Group (RMG). We celebrated our 10th anniversary by achieving record growth and our first venture funding, all while helping to make dramatic gains in patient care through remote monitoring services. Here’s a list of some of the milestones we saw during the year.
Celebrating 10 years!
In November, RMG celebrated our 10th anniversary. It’s incredible to think about the hundreds of practices and health systems that have engaged with our unique blend of services and technology — and the more than 60,000 patient lives we’ve positively impacted. However, we consider this just the beginning, as remote patient monitoring becomes more mainstream, driven by new technologies such as our new RhythmSynergyTM platform. We continue to climb in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, which recognizes the most innovative, fastest-growing technology companies in North America. We will continue to innovate to bring cutting edge technology solutions to the burgeoning remote care sector and to improve patient care.
Developing and launching our innovative RhythmSynergyTM platform
The release of RhythmSynergy represents a major growth milestone. The powerful technology platform leverages artificial intelligence and machine-learning to deliver timely and relevant clinical insights for remotely monitored patients. RhythmSynergy relies on years of clinical feedback and technology innovation to provide a safer, more secure, and scalable approach for practices and health systems seeking to create remote monitoring programs or enhance existing ones. RhythmSynergy represents the new gold standard in enabling physicians and clinical staff to review, share, analyze, and act on patient data, while connecting organizations to more patients, more data, and more reimbursement.
Aldrich Capital Partners’ investment will drive additional growth
Aldrich’s $34 million investment in Rhythm Management Group, the first-ever institutional investment in our company, clearly validates our technology platform and business strategy for growth moving forward. Our new funding will enable us to continue our pioneering role in remote monitoring by increasing the size of our team, and by reaching more hospitals, doctors, and patients in new markets—as well as by expanding our services for current clients.
Reaching more than 60,000 monitored patients
In 2021, one of our major milestones was doubling the number of patients actively monitored, to more than 60,000. In addition, we achieved 96.4% retention with client practices, with an average of 93.6% patient connectivity. “COVID-19 has been incredibly challenging, but it has highlighted the critical role of remote care, whether that’s through monitoring vital signs like blood pressure and weight, or through their implanted cardiac devices,” said Jim Brown, MD, chief medical officer at Rhythm Management Group.
Experiencing our largest sales week in company history
Clearly, the global pandemic accelerated the use of remote monitoring solutions. Remote monitoring is a crucial tool when it comes to maintaining visibility into the vital signs of at-risk patients. This became essential during the pandemic, when there was a need to limit in-person visits to medical facilities. This new reality helped us to achieve our largest sales week in company history, adding more than 7,000 patients, or an average of 1,000 a day.
Inclusion in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Company listing
We continue to gain national recognition with our inclusion in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, which recognizes the most innovative, fastest-growing technology companies in North America. After placing No. 142 in 2020, RMG made a significant jump to No. 105 in the 2021 ranking. Despite the innumerable challenges resulting from the pandemic, we are extremely proud that we were able to pivot, reinvent and grow.
Continued commitment to diversity and inclusion
An important aspect of Rhythm’s origin and success, and something that we are extremely proud of, is that the company was founded by a Black woman and continues to be led by a diverse team of innovative female leaders. Going forward, we will continue to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and develop an equitable organization.
A growing list of customer success stories verifies our business case
Since partnering with Rhythm in late 2018, Montefiore Medical Center has nearly tripled the number of patients enrolled in its remote monitoring program. Based in New York City, Montefiore’s program is also one of Rhythm’s fastest growing, with the team onboarding between 80 to 100 new patients weekly, and more than 90% remaining engaged and connected to devices. That’s more than double the typical connectivity rate of 40% to 45% experienced by most remote monitoring programs. Bakersfield, Calif.-based Dignity Health Medical Group (DHMG)-Golden Empire Cardiology received similar results after partnering with RMG shortly before the pandemic hit. Rhythm’s connection and clinical teams, which continuously monitor patient devices and transmissions, also helped DHMG-Golden Empire Cardiology staff and physicians remain connected to patients despite the unique challenges posed by the pandemic.
Our story continues to gain exposure in leading publications
RMG’s growth and success continues to be chronicled in leading publications such as Managed Healthcare Executive, Authority Magazine, and EP LabDigest. This exposure highlights a number of our success stories. In addition, the positive impact on patient outcomes is clear. As noted, remote monitoring decreases avoidable hospitalizations and readmissions. Studies also indicate that it can decrease the risk of patient death by 50%, and reduce time to clinical decision by 18 days.
Elevating our remote patient monitoring services and appointing James Brown as RPM lead
We were very excited to have Dr. James Brown join our team in July as the lead for our new Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) practice. This new offering will enable expert 24/7 monitoring of patient vitals, including weight, blood pressure, blood oximetry, and more. With our company’s deep experience in remote cardiac monitoring, adding an RPM service line was a logical next step to ensure the best health outcomes for patients with heart conditions or other chronic conditions.
Closing Remarks
By 2024, 30 million U.S. patients are expected to use remote monitoring devices, representing a nearly 30% increase from 2020. Rhythm Management Group is proud to be a major contributor to this growth, which is advantageous for both providers and patients. We plan to innovate heavily in the upcoming years to provide new and improved remote monitoring solutions. As we reflect on 2021, as well as our more than 10 years in business, it has been an honor and a privilege to continue to provide the best tools and services to enhance your and your patients’ lives.
