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Independa, a provider of remote-health monitoring for the elderly, plans to integrate Ideal Life’s medical monitoring devices with its Artemis vital sign sensors. The combined technology will enable remote-monitoring of the elderly to become more “plug and play.”
With its remote-monitoring services, Independa allows the elderly to remain independent and in their homes.
“Technology is a means to achieve longer and better independent living, more cost-effective care and peace of mind,” said Independa CEO Kian Saneii.
Ideal Life offers scales, glucometers, pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, medication dispensers and a wireless hub. These devices will integrate with Independa’s Artemis sensors, which connect wirelessly through a wireless hub of its own to Independa’s browser-based platform. This cloud application allows caregivers to manage data and thresholds from a central location.
By having Ideal Life devices equipped with Artemis sensors out of the box, patients will be able to get connected to remote-monitoring systems quickly following surgery or a return to independent living, Independa reported.
Independa and Ideal Life announced their agreement on Aug. 1.
Sensors integrated into biometric monitoring tools create a “turnkey experience,” according to Jason Goldberg, president of Ideal Life.
“Our perspective has always been about ease of implementation and scale,” Goldberg told eWEEK. “All of these components are fed automatically, and you don’t have to troubleshoot and collect devices locally.”
Right out of the box, a wireless scale or glucometer will incorporate the sensors, said Goldberg.
Independa introduced Artemis in December 2011, when it demonstrated the platform at the mHealth Summit in Maryland. The platform will be generally available this fall to Independa partners such as senior living centers and home health care providers. Artemis sensors also connect with Qualcomm’s 2net cloud-based remote-monitoring platform.
The market for remote health monitoring and disease management in North America will grow from $126.8 million in 2010 to $294.9 million in 2015, according to a Jan. 5 Frost & Sullivan report.
In addition to medical monitoring devices, Artemis sensors also connect to door sensors, panic buttons, and thermometers as well as carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.
Ideal Life’s medical devices are a form of telemedicine, in which Artemis sensors can notify caregivers when a reading from a device such as a glucometer or blood pressure cuff exceeds an acceptable threshold, Saneii told eWEEK.
Independa’s cloud platform will be the destination to manage thresholds for the Ideal Life devices, said Saneii.
“If somebody steps on the scale, the information comes to us,” he said. “If they have weight gain that may be of concern for them, then the triggers go off.”
Having one cloud destination to manage thresholds for wireless monitoring devices will simplify remote care of seniors, according to Saneii.
“You don’t have to go to multiple vendors and multiple places to set different types of thresholds,” Saneii explained. “If you can go to one place and have everything that you need to integrate together for you, it becomes much more manageable to help someone stay independent from a distance.”
In addition to remote-monitoring devices, Independa’s cloud platform allows caregivers for the elderly to manage use of the company’s Angela touch-screen social-engagement platform, which provides medical reminders, photo album viewing, puzzles and Facebook chatting. Like Artemis, Angela also will integrate with Ideal Life’s monitoring devices.