Pair a device with a patient
Receive a cellular shipment, activate the device, assign it to a patient, and confirm the first reading lands in the portal.
A new device is "paired" the moment it is assigned to a patient in the staff portal. There is no Bluetooth, no QR-code dance with a phone, and no patient-side setup. Once your tenant administrator has synced the shipment from the device gateway, the device shows up in Devices with a Lifecycle of Ready and Assigned To of Unassigned. And your job is simply to attach it to the right chart.
Before you start
Make sure the patient has signed RPM consent before you assign a device. The portal records the patient_assigned_at timestamp, and that timestamp is what the billing engine uses for CPT 99453 (initial setup and patient education).
You will need:
- The sealed device box (or a sanitized device returning from inventory).
- The patient's chart already created in Patients.
- A few minutes with the patient on speakerphone, or in the exam room, so you can confirm the first reading flows through.
Step 1: Receive the shipment
When a box arrives at the clinic, your administrator imports the shipment so the devices appear in your tenant. If you don't see the device you're holding, ask the admin to click Sync Devices at Devices -> top-right. Within a few seconds the new device will show up in the table with Status: active and Lifecycle: Ready.
If the Devices page shows the banner "the device account is not configured", stop and contact your administrator. Pairing cannot proceed until the tenant is connected to the device data feed.
Step 2: Find the device in the portal
Open Devices in the staff portal. The default tab is Devices; the SIM Cards tab is for inventory teams and you can ignore it for pairing.
Click the Unassigned KPI card at the top of the page to filter to devices that are not yet attached to a patient.
Locate the device by Serial Number (printed on the back of the
device, beginning with letters such as BS, TMB, or LS) or by
ICCID (the 19-digit SIM number on the activation card inside
the box). Either field accepts a partial match in the search box.
The row should show the model under Model (for example, Blood Pressure Monitor Gen 2), a green active status pill, and a battery icon at 80% or higher for fresh hardware.
Step 3: Assign the device to a patient
Click the device row to open Device Details, or click Details in the Actions column.
From the device detail page, return to Devices and click Assign on the row (or use the Assign for billing flow from the patient's chart at Patients -> select patient -> Devices).
Pick the patient from the dropdown. Confirm that Setup education provided and Billing consent obtained are both checked. The portal will not bill 99453 without these.
Click Save. The KPI cards update immediately: Assigned increments by one and Unassigned decrements by one.
Step 4: Coach the patient through the first reading
Walk the patient through one full reading while you're still on the line. For a blood pressure cuff: cuff on the upper arm, palm up, both feet flat on the floor, sit quietly for one minute, then press the single button on the device. The cellular radio takes 10–30 seconds after the reading completes to push to the device gateway and into the portal.
If the device beeps three times and shows an error code on its small screen, write the number down. Codes 11–17 map to specific hardware and connectivity faults. See Troubleshooting for what each one means and what to do.
Step 5: Confirm telemetry has landed
In the staff portal, navigate to Devices -> Details -> Telemetry. The most recent reading should appear at the top of the Telemetry Data table within 60–90 seconds of the patient pressing the button. The table auto-syncs to the patient's chart in the background. You'll see the small note "auto-syncs to patient records" under the section header.
Cross-check by opening Patients -> select patient -> Observations. The new reading should appear there with the same timestamp and value.
Set the device down somewhere visible to the patient (a kitchen counter or nightstand), confirm they know the daily measurement window your program expects, and end the call.
What "successfully paired" looks like
A correctly paired device, viewed in Devices, will show:
- Status: active
- Lifecycle: Active
- Assigned To: the patient name in teal
- Battery: 50% or higher
- Last Active: a timestamp from the last few minutes
If any of these are off after Step 5, jump straight to Troubleshooting.