Care innovations sticks its head in the 'Cloud'

PRIME – October 2013 By Gary M. Kaye Editor, In the Boombox (www.intheboombox.tv) Up until now, there's been a technology and access gap between the kinds of aging in place care that big health care providers like Humana could offer, and what was available to families caring for an elderly loved one. Now, Care Innovations, the joint Intel-GE health care venture is introducing a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -cleared, cloud-based telehealth remote monitoring solution for home-based elderly patients that goes a long way to bridging the gap between the needs of institutions and clinicians and those of family members who are responsible for their care. There are already web based programs and applications that caregivers could use, but for the most part they did not meet the reliability and security concerns that would bring clearance from the FDA and allow the participation of clinicians. Those that were secure used single purpose hardware like a tablet computer that came with software you couldn't change. The new Connect RCM (remote care monitoring system) uses off-the-shelf hardware such as tablet computers or PCs that may already be in patient and caregiver's homes. Because the system does not require proprietary single purpose hardware, Care Innovations predicts its Connect RCM system could cut deployment costs by as much as 50 percent. While the company has primarily focused its products toward institutions, the new system invites caregivers such as family members to participate at no cost. The FDA clearance for this Cloud-based telehealth solution means the agency has found the system sufficiently reliable and secure so that clinicians can use it to gather sensitive data. The system will also allow connection of a wide range of other telehealth devices including blood pressure cuffs, scales, oxygen saturation sensors, and glucometers. Connect RCM is built on the Care Innovations Guide platform, which has been deployed by institutions in 42 states. When deploying a program, health plans and providers will be able to give patients access to the care portal via web browser on their own device. Depending on the computer proficiency of the patient, the institution will still have the option of using hardware that is locked down – in other words the user cannot alter it. But for most, the system will be accessible through a web portal. The family and caregivers who are not part of the institutional or clinical network will be able to access the patient's data on their own computer, smartphone, or tablet. The application will allow family members to coordinate medical appointments, medication refills, etc. Marcus Grindstaff, director of Strategic Planning & Product Development for Care Innovations, explained why the company felt the need to move from a proprietary system to the web, "As we moved forward (from a single purpose device) we looked at remote care and said we've really got to ratchet the simplicity, the ease of use, the deployability, the cost structure, improve all that by an order of magnitude. In order to do that we've got to land on the web and we've got to land on platforms that people already have in their homes. But it's really important that as we do that, that it's done in a way which respects the needs of medical care management from both a usability perspective as well as data integrity and efficacy." Grindstaff said that as home-based health monitoring expands, the new remote care management system provides advantages in terms of time and cost and deployment, while also reducing the complexity of adding new patients. "With the historical solution (single purpose hardware), if you want to start remotely caring for someone, from the minute they put their hand up and say 'I want to be part of this program', you've got to get a device, you've got to ship it to their house, many times you've got to get someone in there to get it working, you've got to push some content down to it and then several days later, in best case, in other cases a couple of weeks later, they're now under active management," he said. "We do that for a service to our customers using the Guide appliance, and in a rush mode we can do that in two or three days anywhere in the United States. To contrast that with what you can do with a cloud-based implementation, when a member of a health plan calls up and says, 'I want to be part of the program'. from the minute they raise their hand, that individual they are talking to at the health plan can enroll them in the solution, send them an e-mail with the link, they can log on to the system, enroll themselves, and have their customized, member specific, condition specific content, deployed to their cloud-based client before the end of that phone call. "And that's a 15 minute activity with no trucks and no people going to homes," he added. Connect RCM is breaking the telehealth mold by giving patients receiving remote care the chance to actively include their family and friends in the care process. Patients can invite their family caregivers into a secure, web-based application called Care Innovations Connect Caregiver, which helps friends and family more actively and efficiently participate in the care of their loved one. Connect Caregiver is currently under limited release in preparation for a larger commercial rollout scheduled for 2014 to the broader consumer market of family caregivers. Care Innovations expects Connect RCM to be commercially available to United States health plans and providers early in the fourth quarter of 2013, and plans to expand the offering to Canada and the United Kingdom and Ireland soon thereafter. Gary Kaye is the creator of In The Boombox (www.intheboombox.tv), the first website to cover technology from the Baby Boomer perspective. Kaye has been covering high tech for more than 30 years with outlets including NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox Business. He is a regular contributor to AARP and other websites on issues regarding the nexus of technology, seniors and baby boomers.