Pulse Oximetry Monitoring for Skilled Nursing RPM — PointClickCare + CCN Health

Pulse Oximetry for Skilled Nursing RPM with PointClickCare and athenahealth

Skilled Nursing facilities using PointClickCare as their facility EHR often work with physicians who use athenahealth for their practice management. When implementing RPM with pulse oximetry, this dual-EHR reality creates data flow challenges that CCN Health solves through bi-directional integration with both systems.

The Dual-EHR Challenge in Skilled Nursing

In skilled nursing settings with pulse oximetry, it's common for:

• The facility to use PointClickCare for resident records, charting, and daily care documentation
• The physician to use athenahealth for orders, billing, and clinical decision-making
• Pulse Oximetry data to be needed in both systems for complete clinical documentation and billing

Without an integration bridge, pulse oximetry readings exist in isolation — staff must manually transcribe data between systems, leading to documentation gaps and billing delays.

How Pulse Oximetry Works

FDA-cleared fingertip pulse oximeters from Jumper and Bodytrace measure blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate. The 30-second finger clip reading transmits automatically via cellular gateway to the CCN Health platform.

Data Captured

• SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation)
• Heart rate
• Perfusion index
• SpO2 trends over time
• Desaturation events

How CCN Health Bridges PointClickCare and athenahealth

CCN Health's platform serves as the central hub for all pulse oximetry data in dual-EHR environments:

1. Pulse Oximetry data flows to CCN Health — SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) and other metrics are captured continuously by the monitoring system
2. PointClickCare receives resident records — Vital signs, alerts, and care documentation sync to PCC resident charts automatically
3. athenahealth receives clinical summaries — The ordering physician gets RPM reports with pulse oximetry data in their athenahealth workflow
4. Billing documentation routes correctly — Claims data with pulse oximetry support goes to the billing entity via athenahealth

Data Flow: PointClickCare ↔ CCN Health ↔ athenahealth

Benefits for Skilled Nursing Facilities

Combining pulse oximetry with dual-EHR integration provides unique advantages for skilled nursing facilities:

Readmission Prevention

Continuous monitoring during the critical post-acute window reduces hospital readmissions and improves quality scores.

Quality Measures

Objective vital sign data supports CMS quality reporting and star rating improvement efforts.

Pulse Oximetry Advantages

• 30-second finger clip — simple and non-invasive
• Critical for COPD and respiratory condition management

Billing Considerations for Dual-EHR Pulse Oximetry RPM

In dual-EHR environments with pulse oximetry, billing typically flows through the physician practice (athenahealth):

Pulse Oximetry data provides the clinical documentation needed to support RPM billing with objective, time-stamped readings that demonstrate monitoring compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does pulse oximetry data reach both EHR systems?

Data flows from the monitoring device to CCN Health's platform, then syncs bi-directionally with both PointClickCare (for resident care documentation) and athenahealth (for physician clinical records and billing).

Do both systems get the same pulse oximetry data?

Both systems receive pulse oximetry data, but formatted for each system's role. PointClickCare gets detailed resident charting, while athenahealth receives clinical summaries optimized for physician workflows and billing.

What is the implementation timeline for pulse oximetry with dual-EHR?

Most skilled nursing facilities are fully operational within 4-6 weeks, including system deployment, dual-EHR integration setup, and nursing staff training. Both EHR connections are configured simultaneously.