Independa's 'Artemis': The final piece of the home telecare platform

Independa is ready to roll out the final piece of a platform designed to help seniors, people with disabilities and their caregivers ensure a connected healthcare environment at home.

The San Diego-based provider of telehealth services has unveiled ‘Artemis,’ a platform of health, safety and activity sensors designed to connect home-based devices to the company’s cloud solution, which relays information back to healthcare providers and caregivers. Company CEO Kian Saneii ¬– who was kept busy explaining the new offering during the recent mHealth Summit in Washington D.C. – said he expects to beta test the platform during the first quarter of 2012 and roll it off the shelves during the second quarter.

Artemis is the third offering from Independa, following releases earlier this year of the Caregiver Web App, which enables caregivers to create automatic reminders for care receivers, and Angela, a touchscreen-based in-residence social engagement platform. All are designed, Saneii, said, to work with each other and offer a complete home telecare solution.

“Artemis allows you to integrate health and safety into the residence,” he said. “It offers an integration platform, a central hub that receives the information from all the focus points.”

While designed for home healthcare providers and consumers, the Independa platform may also gain favor with healthcare providers and payers who want to reduce costly doctor’s visits and hospitalizations for preventable crises, as well as monitor post-discharge patients to prevent rehospitalizations.

Supported by a partnership with Boston Life Labs, which is providing the technological framework, Artemis is designed as an out-of-the-box, power-and-play suite of home sensors for caregivers and their charges – ranging from the elderly to those with disabilities – who might not be tech-savvy. The platform will support custom-configured monitors designed for an individual’s daily regimen and challenges. Sensors can measure everything from vital signs to motion, door opening, toilet flushing, room temperature, smoke and carbon monoxide, as well as offering a panic button and pressure pad for almost-instant contact.

“Trillions of dollars of infrastructure development in the U.S. would be required to build and equip facilities to house the tsunami of seniors who are reaching the age of fragility and dependence,” said Robert B. McCray, president and CEO of the San Diego-based Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, in a press release issued by Independa. “Staffing these facilities is an additional expense, and seniors want to live independently as long as possible. Fortunately, the smart combination of technology and applications in Independa’s platform will enable fragile seniors to extend their period of independent living and caregivers to extend their services to a greater number of clients.”

“Artemis is designed to deliver the next level of home monitoring, versus traditional methods and technologies,” Saneii added in the press release. “It will seamlessly integrate health, safety and activity information to provide virtual caregivers unprecedented visibility across multiple aspects of health and well-being.”

According to Saneii, Independa’s three offerings are designed to work in unison: Artemis will connect sensors to monitor events and vital signs in the home, while Angela will provide residents with an interactive social platform and the Caregiver Web App will enable caregivers to track their charges remotely.
 

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

Follow Eric on Twitter @eriwick