Jul 14, 2021Healthcare companies will begin piloting and deploying a new remote patient monitoring (RPM) solution this year that leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology for the care of patients in their own homes. The solution, provided by Essence SmartCare, includes a gateway, a package of connected healthcare devices, and a customizable software platform that links the provider with patients and their data.
The system was designed to offer flexible solutions so that each patient's condition can be monitored in the way that a physician prescribes, says Boaz Pal, Essence SmartCare's director of product management, from providing daily reminders to capturing specific sensor measurements at the rate prescribed for a particular individual. The technology will be deployed to help elders living in their homes, as well as those in assisted-living facilities. It enables doctors and patients to track aging-related issues and chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure. That, the company says, provides an alternative to phone calls and can be accomplished without the need for smartphone apps.
The VitalOn Connected Care system
Essence SmartCare, an Israel-based technology company that is part of Essence Group, was launched eight years ago to offer Internet of Things (IoT) platforms for healthcare and senior-care providers. Its telecare solutions include fall-protection emergency buttons and movement detectors to identify if an individual may require assistance, whether that person is in a home or a retirement facility. The system, known as VitalOn Connected Care, combines telecare and telehealth to keep doctors apprised of patients' conditions, and it reminds patients to take necessary measurements (such as blood pressure readings), while alerting them if they should call their doctor.
The solution is intended not only for seniors living independently, Pal explains, but also for younger people who may need some level of healthcare services but wish to avoid excessive visits to medical centers. A typical user might be someone with a condition that requires monitoring, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, or an elderly person who requires overall health management on a regular basis to ensure they remain active and healthy.
The VitalOn development began when Pal joined the Essence team approximately seven months ago. The company wanted to integrate telehealth models into existing telecare systems, so the team started analyzing the healthcare industry and identifying gaps in care coverage, starting with remote patient monitoring. They built VitalOn as a flexible solution that can be employed for patients with a wide variety of conditions or healthcare needs.
"What's unique is this allows the provider to add options and services on an existing infrastructure," Pal says. Essence already offered its telecare technology to wirelessly track sensor data where patients live, and that made the release of the VitalOn solution easier. "When I joined, I noted a huge advantage we already have: our gateway is awake 24-7," collecting data in the home to detect emergency events. "You can connect medical devices and vital signs to collect health information seamlessly."
Boaz Pal
The VitalOn system leverages Bluetooth 5.0 technology built into the Essence gateway, and the gateway can communicate with a variety of BLE-enabled medical devices in a user's household. The VitalOn package can come with five medical devices: a blood pressure monitor, a glucose meter, a thermometer, a weight scale and a pulse oximeter. The gateway not only captures data from the sensors but can provide audible announcements to remind patients to take a sensor reading at a predefined time.
In addition, the system can send text messages. If a user does not respond to an announcement by taking the necessary reading at the appointed time, follow-up reminders can be issued until that reading is taken. Once the patient takes the necessary measurement, the device transmits that reading to the gateway from anywhere within the house, and the gateway then forwards that data to the cloud-based server. The healthcare provider leverages Essence's software as a monitoring portal, on which it can view patient data, configure reminders and view technical events, such as device batteries running low.
Essence SmartCare's platform continuously monitors pre-set parameters and routine vital signs to detect any abnormal readings or activities and alert the patients, as well as their caregivers or clinicians, to the problem. With the technology, Pal says, "Our goal was to make the end user safe at home." The system is intended to assure patients, "Somebody is there, always getting my readings. Someone notices if something goes wrong."
The company sells its products to distributors, care providers and other healthcare companies, as well as to technical integrators who buy the system from Essence and sell it to their own customers. During the technology's testing, Pal recalls, Essence SmartCare worked directly with customers who might sell the solution to their own patient ecosystems. "Customers were asking for 'simple, simple, simple,'" he says, since elders prefer not to be immersed in technology, but simply to have a system set up and then be confident it is working properly.
Essence considers the solution's flexibility to be among its strongest selling points, according to Pal, since it enables users to add the services they need. Healthy, younger people can use it if they are having a specific health condition monitored, sparing them from making repeated visits to doctors' offices.
In August, the company intends to release VitalOn activity trackers that could connect directly to the server and to a user's physician. The solution will be intended for those who are active but still interested in detecting any degradation in their health, Pal notes. Individuals want something seamless in their home, he says, to monitor issues involving sleep and pulse, with data gathered and uploaded so a caregiver will see it and contact them if there is something wrong. "That is the security we can provide" without caregiver appointments, he says. In the meantime, the VitalOn solution is available worldwide.
Piloting is set to commence during the third quarter of this year, with collaborations following in Europe and the United States. The gateways are developed and manufactured by Essence in Israel, and the health-monitoring equipment is being sold by Essence, though numerous other brands of equipment could be used with the system if connectivity is available. "Everything is gathered on our cloud," Pal states. "We know how to organize and present the data so that it is very easy to use and to share."
