NIH’s National Institute on Aging awarded AFrame Digital a $1 million telehealth grant to support a two year Phase II SBIR grant to evaluate using novel mobile technologies to remotely monitor the wellness of seniors. The project will monitor 90 adults, aged 65 years and older including 60 with congestive heart failure for six months each. The research will focus on the usability of the system by seniors to easily monitor their health status.
AFrame Digital’s FDA-cleared MobileCare™ Monitor system uses sensors embedded in discreet, nonintrusive wrist monitors to gather activity, location and impact data including impacts related to falls. The system produces real-time continuous remote monitoring.
The monitoring system transmits data over local wireless networks to secure servers, which process and display the data on web-accessible devices. Caregivers have access to easy-to-navigate web-accessible dashboards and configurable alert settings that generate exceptions-based reports and automated alerts.
In an earlier NIH Phase I SBIR study, AFrame Digital collaborated with Neil Charness, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Florida State and a leading expert in researching human factors that influence the functioning of technological systems.
During the Phase II project, the company will again collaborate again with Dr. Charness. In addition, the company will collaborate with Ernest Brown MD, Medical Director of Healthcare for the Homebound. The company will also collaborate with Commonwealth Care of Roanoke (CCR) a company operating rehabilitation centers across Virginia. CCR will use the system to monitor patients discharged in an effort to reduce hospital re-admissions.
Results from the Phase I SBIR study demonstrated the feasibility of monitoring adults ages 65 and older using the MobileCare Monitor system. The adults wearing a wrist monitor and wireless third-party devices integrated within the system collected blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels, weight, and self-assessment survey data.
“The goal of remote monitoring solutions is to improve quality of life and independence for the individuals being monitored,” states Amy Papadopoulos, DSc, Principal Investigator for the project and Senior Researcher at AFrame Digital. “We believe that providing patients and their caregivers with a more complete picture of their wellness on a regular basis will result in fewer medical emergencies and complications which in addition to improving their quality of life would also reduce the cost of healthcare.”
For more information, go to www.AFrameDigital.com or call 571-308-0147.
