• Respiri (RSH) begins enrolling patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in its wheezo remote patient monitoring (RPM) program in Arkansas
• Respiri will receive recurring revenues per patient per month in addition to device sales revenue
• The program, being conducted with RSH partner Access Telehealth, aims to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions and improve the health of patients with COPD
• Respiri says it’s in “advanced discussions” with other potential wheezo RPM customers and hopes to roll out the program to more hospitals in the near future
• Shares in Respiri are trading at 4.3 cents at 11:05 am AEDT

Health tech specialist Respiri (RSH) has begun enrolling patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in its wheezo remote patient monitoring (RPM) program in Arkansas.

The company announced this morning Arkansas Heart Hospital (AHH) had identified a target patient population and started enrolling patients in the program, which was supported by RSH’s cloud-based Remotli platform.

The program is being conducted by Respiri and its partner company, Access Telehealth.

Respiri said it would receive recurring revenues per patient per month under the program, on top of revenue for device sales.

Further, reimbursement codes for the program will be processed over the coming months.

The wheezo program is designed to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions and improve the health of patients with COPD, which is a common co-morbidity in patients with cardiovascular disease.

COPD is a key contributor to hospital readmissions, with 39 per cent of patients with cardiovascular disease also suffering from the condition.

Respiri CEO Marjan Mikel said this was an “exciting” phase for the company as it continued to grow its momentum with many US healthcare organisations and broaden its footprint in the States.

“The wheezo RPM program is key to an expedited rollout as it improves healthcare management of patients and Access Telehealth makes it relatively easy for our RPM clients,” Mr Mikel said.

“The Arkansas Heart Hospital experience is a testament to this model.”

Respiri said the wheezo RPM program was designed to be an important clinical addition to patient management and was intended to be a lifelong practice for patients.

Additionally, the program does not add to the workloads of healthcare organisations, making roll-out easy for hospitals.

AHH is a 112-bed facility staffed with nine cardiologists and a range of other specialists, serving tens of thousands of patients and providing almost 22,000 annual patient days of care, as well as outpatient services.

The hospital, according to Respiri, generates almost US$648 million (A$972 million) in annual patient care billings.

Respiri said it was in “advanced discussions” with several other potential wheezo RPM customers, and it hoped to roll out the program to more hospitals in the “near future”.

Shares in Respiri were last trading at 4.3 cents at 11:05 am AEDT.