Continuous Health Monitoring in Home Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry is exploding with new technology. Hospitals and specialized facilities are providing innovative treatments that improve patient quality of life and longevity. The intersection of healthcare and technology is often approached with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.

As we learn what is possible, our ability to care for the most vulnerable populations improves. Home health care and home care agencies are at the forefront of in-home health monitoring - caring for post-surgery patients, elderly clients, and individuals recovering from a serious health event. Often, the most anxiety, for both patients and their families, is in wondering (and worrying) about what could happen when the client or patient is home alone. 

• What if there is a fall?

• What if there is a sudden change in mobility?

• What if a fever suddenly spikes? 

Depending on the home visit schedule, conditions such as these may go undetected for several hours or even days. Continuous, remote patient monitoring devices supported by an AI platform are the solution.

CareMate and the AI2 platform combine to deliver a solution that breaks the norm. The CareMate device is a departure from traditional remote monitoring solutions, offering discreet placement and reusability. The AI2 network paves the way for the future of home-based health services with a ubiquitous open AI platform that provides a gateway for processing data from multiple sensors. 

Supported In-Home Recovery

A discharged patient beginning a 30- or 60-day recovery plan is at a critical phase. When properly supported, motivated, and monitored, patients can regain mobility and independence. However, these patients are also highly vulnerable to setbacks as they enter a familiar environment in an unfamiliar condition.

For some, the temptation to "do too much" will precede falls, while others may resist the uncomfortable and limit mobility to a detrimental level. Physical therapists and nurses visiting during this recovery window have limited information – relying on the patient's self-reporting and their own observations during the visit to make care decisions. 

The condition and activity level of the patient between each visit is a mystery. Was there a fall? Is the patient moving throughout the daylight hours? Is the patient experiencing restless nights? Effective, remote patient monitoring answers these questions and more.

Elderly Care That Surpasses the Norm

Seniors are the fastest-growing population in the world. People are not just living longer; they are extending their independence by remaining at home and delaying or eliminating entrance into 24-hour care facilities. With this change, individuals and their families need the peace-of-mind that comes with frequent health checks, often provided by Home Care agencies.

Home care costs are based on the number of visits a patient receives and each visit's length (in hours). Families researching providers see little differentiation between services. The formula is simple, Hours per a Visit x Number of Visits = Cost

What if you could improve care, differentiate offerings, and provide greater peace of mind to families? Remote patient monitoring does all of that. Agencies that offer 24 hour/7 days a week monitoring stand out from the crowd. Not only does this level of care exceed the standard, but it also provides families with added assurance and generates a new income stream for the agency.

Why Aren't We All Using Patient Monitoring Devices?

Historically, patient monitoring devices have fallen short of expectations. Often, the device is disposable and expensive, making it cost-prohibitive for most patients and agencies. A device that costs $200 and only lasts seven days would add more than $1700 to the total cost of a patient's 60-day recovery plan. 

For a home care agency, disposable devices mean frequent device changes and added costs. For clients and patients, the devices are often prominently displayed on lanyards or wrists, when most wearers would prefer a more discreet solution.

CareMate resolves each of these concerns and dramatically improves the overall quality of continuous patient monitoring by operating on AI2's device-agnostic platform.

The CareMate Difference

As a device, CareMate provides peace of mind for both patients and families. If something happens, even when the wearer is alone, the right people are notified, and help is dispatched. It is discreet and worn on the skin of the torso. Placement on the torso not only allows the device to be undetectable under clothing, it also provides more accurate tracking. Lanyards and devices worn on the wrist report more movement-related false positives, such as bending over to check what's going on in the oven, stumbles that do not result in a fall but a quick wrist movement to brace and keep a fall from happening, and clients removing the device.

The CareMate device is rechargeable, reusable, costs less than $300, and can be leveraged across multiple clients after a simple, FDA sanctioned cleaning process using soap, water, and isopropyl alcohol.

With CareMate, caregivers gain access to accurate, appropriate information. The CareMate device monitors heart rate, activity, location, respiratory function, heart rate variability, and temperature – giving 24x7 visibility into fall detection, fevers, heart rate changes, and location.

The AI2 Neural Network processes data from the CareMate device to deliver a continuous stream of data that displays on a dashboard as trend comparisons. Every morning, at 6:00 AM, the registered care team receives a report that compares the last 24 hours to a rolling 5-day or 21-day window. This comparison allows for the identification of significant changes over time and enables caregivers to curtail infections, illnesses, and unsafe conditions with early intervention.

With an eye on the future of remote patient monitoring, AI2 is only beginning to scratch the surface of supporting a healthcare revolution that will bring more acute care capabilities in-home. Not only does CareMate support these fast-approaching changes, but the AI2 Neural Network is also designed to be device agnostic, driven by AI and machine learning, and adheres to the strictest privacy and HIPAA standards.

Deploying CareMate devices is the first step towards delivering the latest and most effective remote patient monitoring and provides a foundation for your agency to grow and adopt emerging in-home health care devices.