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device, using the cell phone’s GPS technology,” Van Hise says. “It will actu- ally report exactly where the device is. And again, from a durable medical equipment company standpoint, that’s very helpful because it’s very accurate. So, for example, if a patient is in a block apartment houses, it can actually identify within the block of apartment houses where the device may actually, physically be located.
That’s a very powerful tool by itself; just knowing where the location is,” he continues. “It sends all the machine usage data, alarm code data, and performance data every hour, or every time there’s an alarm, back to the cloud server that’s monitoring all the data. So, the DME can set up thresh- olds for the number of alarm violations or error codes that would come up on a device, and then the DME can send a message to a speci c driver, technician, or respiratory therapist to advise them that a concentrator located at this address is having frequent error codes in something like, low purity of the oxygen, or high temperature.
“Whatever that condition may be, if the threshold is set correctly by
the DME, they can actually see a violation of that, and proactively know if there’s something going on with that concentrator that they need to take a look at and intervene before the concentrator fails, and the patient has to go on their backup oxygen system,” Van Hise says.
“We want to deter as many calls as possible,” Jacobs adds. “We want to pretty much give the provider a crystal ball. We’re offering them a portal — it’s like a dashboard — where they have access or visibility to all their deployed Platinum Mobiles that are connected to the system. ... The
provider can see oxygen purity, battery charge and discharge cycles, and patient use.
“Patient use, is actually equipment run time,” he highlights. “That’s where you start looking into complying, to some extent. Now that’s a little further out there, as of today, where it’s just saying, ‘This is how many hours this equipment has been used this week.’ ... What we’re trying to do is make
a tool that allows HME providers and oxygen providers to better manage their business, and is a means of reducing cost and providing better customer service.”
Getting to a landscape where remote monitoring is used to manage outcomes is not far away. The demand is certainly there and other care markets have paved the way. It’s a matter of time at this point.
“We understand what the market is today, and we understand what the potential is and where it is likely going to be going,” Okunola says. “You can see what’s already happening in sleep.
“We know that there’s a lot of potential for this technology, to improve what we’re doing today, but also to expand functionality within the various stakeholders,” she continues. “And you have more than just the provider or payer stakeholders. You have the end users who we are already addressing; you have the DME provider; you have the clinician; you have the payer; you have the long-term care facilities. There are multiple avenues where this could branch out and where there would be a lot of value in the caregiver, so the end-user, the patients, personal care-giver, family, loved ones. There are so many opportunities for this.” n
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