Boston Medical Center announced a partnership with Rimidi, a cloud-based software platform that enables a more efficient model of care for patients with chronic conditions, to remotely monitor blood pressure for women experiencing high-risk pregnancies. Healthcare experts in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at BMC, including recent medical school graduates, will be the first to use Rimidi’s platform, which has been integrated into the academic medical center’s electronic health record, Epic.
 
“Women who have gestational hypertension or preeclampsia are considered ‘high-risk’ during and after pregnancies, and can benefit from close monitoring,” said Christina Yarrington, MD, FACOG, an obstetrics and gynecology physician and director of labor and delivery at Boston Medical Center. “In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding the capability to remotely monitor blood pressure in these patients is especially pressing, as we are trying to limit their exposure to healthcare settings.”
 
The team at BMC will use Rimidi’s cardiovascular disease platform view, which combines relevant EHR data, with patient-generated blood pressure data from a cellular-connected blood pressure cuff. This allows physicians to manage better outcomes based on actionable, real-time information. According to Yarrington, who is also an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine, the remote monitoring program will start with a cohort of approximately 60 patients.
 
“Adverse cardiovascular outcomes like heart attack and stroke—whether pregnancy-related or not—are one of the most preventable causes of mortality in the United States,” said Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, founder and chief health innovator at Rimidi. “This project to address maternal and infant morbidity and mortality due to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy is a great example of how technology can support more proactive and preventative management of a condition that is a public health crisis across the US.”
 
With the risk of COVID-19, healthcare systems are taking extra precautions in treating their patients. The adoption of Rimidi’s platform will not only allow physicians at BMC to cut back on fear of exposure by monitoring their patients remotely, but also add in an extra layer of medical support when patients need it most.