A New Way of Doing Old Things

5 products that show innovation never slows down

By Meg Herndon

It feels like every day new homecare products are launched that promise innovation through easier methods of data collection, unique insights or different ways of addressing long-standing problems. We have identified five new products that have recently hit or will soon hit the market that address key issues in elder care.

GPS SmartSole by MetAlert

This discreet GPS tracking solution is for those who wander, MetAlert says, especially older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. The GPS SmartSole looks and acts like a regular insole, but provides real-time wandering alerts and remote access monitoring for caregivers.

Caregivers can create geozones, or circular perimeters, around addresses. When a GPS SmartSole enters or exits these geozones, the SmartSole portal sends alerts via text and email. Family members and caregivers can customize who receives alerts. Multiple geozones can be created, and SmartSole allows geozones to be paused while others stay active.

Location history can be viewed using a computer, tablet or smartphone, and MetAlert allows password and login information to be shared between caregivers so multiple people can access the information at the same time if needed.

The SmartSole is battery-operated. The battery can be recharged using the included charging pad and takes two to four hours to charge. The SmartSole can last two to four days between recharges, depending on usage.

GPS SmartSole

PortableConnect by ROMTech

The PortableConnect is a smart, in-home therapy system that makes it easier to recover and return to activities of daily living after knee, hip and ankle surgery. Patients can use the PortableConnect on their own time in their own homes, making therapy more affordable and accessible.

Patients can use the device to connect remotely with their clinicians and record their progress using three key features:

The SmartPedals adjust resistance and position automatically to fit the user and provide therapeutic movement in a comfortable range of motion.
The AccuAngle is a removable Bluetooth device that sticks on the outside of the thigh and calf and hinges at the knee. It records the knee’s range of motion during each session.
The interactive portal provides easy-to-understand audio and video instructions, captures data and tracks the progress of the user.

Covered by most insurance payers, including Medicare, ROMTech will deliver the device to the home and a support specialist will set up the system and show the user how it works. After the prescribed length of therapy, the ROMTech support specialist will pick up the system from the home.

Portable Connect

The Provizio SEM Scanner by Bruin Biometrics

The Provizio SEM Scanner helps detect bedsores in patients by measuring moisture levels below the skin’s surface—an early indicator of cell death. This method allows for identification of areas more at risk of pressure injury up to five days earlier than a visual skin assessment, regardless of skin tone.

According to Bruin Biometrics, the scanner allows caregivers and health care providers to shift pressure injury detection by moving from reactive treatments to proactive pathways of prevention.

The FDA authorized Provizio SEM Scanner is a non-invasive, hand-held device that looks for an inflammatory response to deformation using sub-epidermal moisture (SEM) biomarkers that it identifies and then reports. The Provizio SEM Scanner differentiates between healthy and inflamed tissue and provides a specific measure of pressure injury risk.

Readings from the scanner are captured and tracked in real-time and can be integrated into the electronic medical records of the patients.

Provizio SEM Scanner

The Smart Seat by Casana

Ensuring adherence and tracking vital signs of home health patients is vital in providing timely and effective care, and gathering this data through a commonly used appliance allows tracking to blend into a daily routine.

Casana’s Smart Seat monitors health from the bottom up. The battery-powered in-home health monitoring smart toilet seat tracks the heart rate, blood oxygen levels, heart rate variability and bathroom frequency of up to three users. Health data and insights can be accessed in a dashboard and app and can be shared with caregivers and doctors.

Casana is currently partnering with the University of Florida and The Villages to conduct a study researching remote monitoring device adherence among older adults.

The product is not currently available, but interested parties can join the waitlist here: casanacare.com/the-smartseat.

Infuzamed by Infuzamed

Infuzamed’s mobile wearable infusion pump with remote patient monitoring and control capabilities looks to free patients from IV tubes and poles that are typically standard with IV drug delivery.

The device sits on the patient’s forearm and requires no additional attachments. It uses four sets of single-use disposable syringes and administration sets with anti-siphon valves designed for use on syringe-type patient-controlled analgesia or PCA pump devices. According to Infuzamed, most commercial pre-filled syringes can be attached to the module via a luer lock.

Infuzamed uses a drug library program to deliver the correct drug dosages to the patient. It is equipped with two independent pumps:

The synchronized program pump provides drugs and antibiotics to the KVO unit
The asynchronous pumps operate independently, each working at different times

Additionally, Infuzamed can be used in an outpatient setting, making it more cost-effective than inpatient care. The Wi-Fi-based monitoring program tracks patients in real time and collects and transmits vital signs to medical personnel, including: