Parks Associates Connected Health Summit https://www.parksassociates.com held October 6, 2022 included a Fireside Chat moderated by Elizabeth Parks President, CMO, at Parks Associates discussing issues with Andy Droney Sr. Director ADT Health.
They discussed how the landscape for health and medical care has changed and effective care can now be achieved by using effective monitoring technology when patients leave hospitals to maintain further care at home.
Andy Droney reports that wearables and smart home devices are just a few examples of how technology and the use of smart technology has grown and will continue to grow rapidly in future years. The goal is to meet the needs of seniors by enabling them to use devices effectively.
He also mentioned how the new MATTER smart home standard is now a reality and promises to connect in the future, connect for specific needs, and work to enable devices to come together.
The panel session “From Hospital to Home” with Jennifer Kent, VP, Research, Parks Associates addressed how technology especially monitoring services are rapidly being used more and more not only by seniors but also by the population in general. As pointed she out, 154% of households own a connected health devices, and 40% have participated in remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Tim Batz, CEO Kalogon Inc., https://www,kalogon.com described how Kalogon has developed a new cushion that uses patented sensor technology to continually adapt to the needs of people in need to sit for long periods of time. The cushion is needed since a number of people are in great discomfort and pain resulting from physical issues and medical problems. The cushion incorporates sensors to track data in order to provide information on what fits in with a person’s activity needs. This is accomplished by being able to effectively track data.
SVP Business Development at VeeOne Health https://veeonehealth.com, Ed Lear, reports that technology’s ability to produce further information that goes into the workflow results in more accurate records, makes it easier to follow trends to more accurately predict the future, and helps to keep people safer in their homes.
He described how VeeClinic with just a few clicks makes it easy for patients no matter where they are located to find specialized care. Patients are texted and emailed a single use line to initiate a secure telehealth session.
He suggests new models and programs need to be examined to see how effectively models are working from the hospital to the home and he is enthusiastic on the use or RPM. He notes that more hospitals and consumers are accepting the use of more and more sensors and other technologies effectively in the home.
Dr. Constantinos (Taki) Michaelidis, Medical Director, Hospital at Home, UMass Memorial Health https://www.ummhealth.org reports that UMass Memorial Health is a safety net hospital treating a disadvantaged population. To help the population, the Kraft Community Care in Reach Mobile Unit has been rolled out to enhance lifesaving addiction and medical services.
He explained that healthcare can’t effectively utilize 30 year old data so the use of data has to be upgraded to achieve effective usable technology. He is happy that data collecting devices are advancing forward, sensor technology is making good progress, and the use of machine learning and AI is progressing which is helping medical care to move forward.
However, Dr. Michaelidis, is concerned about reimbursement issues involving hospital-home reimbursement. He wants to see that Congress understands how important the hospital@home program in order to help and improve care for seniors in their homes.
According to Deidre Rolli, Deidre Rolli BS, RN, Nurse Manager, UMass Memorial Health, “Nurses and paramedics have been exhibiting burnout working in hospitals. However, They like to treat patients at home.” She is also enthusiastic on using monitoring systems and telehealth to help reach all the populations in need of care.
Dr. Chris Stark, Chief Clinical Officer, Landmark Health https://www.landmarkhealth.org , reports, “Landmark partners with health plans to bring medical behaviors, health and palliative care, plus social services to patients. The company’s mobile providers visit patients in their homes and also use telemedicine to visit over video and over the phone.”
He mentioned the challenges faced at the hospital level of care. For example, the care level today is resulting in an enormous increase in the volume of care. The problem is that hospital staffing is not as high as it should be.
Fereydoun Taslimi, CEO, SensorsCall Inc. https://www.sensorcall.com, described how CareAlert, an app and AI platform, is able to continuously learn when unusual behaviors or activities are happening in the home.
Push a button on the app and then CareAlert’s light blinks so important information is then available and the family member or caregiver can take action. He also added how Sensor Call, an unobstructed eldercare platform is not equipped with cameras or wearables and is easy to operate since if the sensor goes off—the sensor is working