As of June 4th 29th 2020, there have been over 6.29 million global cases of COVID-19 infection, and over 380 thousand related deaths. Despite the best efforts of authorities and governments, inpatient health care centers do not have adequate capacity to deal with the rising global case load, nor can they effectivelymonitor persons quarantined at home. Canada, with a population of 37.5 million, has only 2.5 beds per 1000persons. Hospital bed occupancy stood at 92% before the pandemic, leaving the entire country with just over 7500 available beds. Unless global budgets change to provide 50 to 100 times the current number of healthcare and tracing specialists and production of equipment like PPEs and ventilators, the pandemic will continue to exact a painful toll on people, the economy and even political stability for months to come. And this won’t be the last pandemic we see.
Elastic Care, based out of Markham, is a healthcare startup. Its Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) platform allows for remote monitoring of patients suffering from various chronic illnesses like CVD, COPD, and diabetes. Their hardware platform is undergoing final testing for US FDAclearance and other approvals in Canada.
Elastic Care’s RPM platform integrates medical grade sensors and off-the-shelf medical devices to gather andtransmit data to a secure center via an app on a smartphone. Data is analyzed and the reports, trends, and alerts are sent to the subject’s health care professional in real time or on a set schedule. This low cost system is secure and scalable, and more importantly, can be rapidly deployed in any setting such as a hospital, long term care facility, or home. As a SaaS based system, it requires no capital investment.
According to Ashok Kalle, Elastic Care’s CEO, “Elastic Care’s RPM platform is ideal for remote monitoring of COVID subjects. Prioritizing care and helping doctors make data-driven decisions will help to alleviate the burden on overwhelmed global healthcare systems”, adding “We’ve made the decision to release a part of our platform right away and at no charge, to help address the pressing global need for solutions to tackle this pandemic from any and all angles in a collaborative, medically sound, and effective manner.”
The RPM platform currently measures various metrics via questionnaires and an ecosystem of partner devices. These metrics include respiratory rate (RR), Sp02, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, urine output, levels of consciousness (AVPU), and detects complications and trends using the WHO approved “NEWS” score. Physicians are provided with a user-friendly dashboard, through which they can monitor their patient alerts, connect with them in real time, and even remotely write prescriptions for patients to receive immediately via the patient app. The app also has geo-fencing features to help track the patient’s location and history for use by authorized caretakers and family.
Learn more at www.elasticcare.com