Sometimes an mHealth application doesn't have to focus on vital signs to be effective.
That's the thinking of Satish Movva, who's launching a new service this year tracking a senior's movements and activity patterns throughout the home. CarePredict alerts a caregiver when the senior changes his or her patterns, so that the caregiver can call or check in on the senior to make sure everything is okay.
Movva, the founder and CEO of the successful ContinuLink home healthcare and hospice platform ($550 million in customer transactions in 201), says his new mHealth venture is targeted specifically at adults who are taking care of senior parents or relatives from afar.
"Everyone measures vital signs, but no one measures behaviors," he said, adding that he wanted to provide a simple solution for consumers that doesn't require FDA oversight. "This is (a solution) that passively learns one's activities, then uses that as a baseline to" track activity patterns through the day.
CarePredict consists of a bracelet that tracks movement, location and motion, charting the process for seven days to create patterns. Those measurements are transmitted via the cloud to a secure website that's accessed by caregivers online, either through a laptop or a mobile device. Alerts to changes in patterns can be sent as text messages or e-mails.
Movva said the prototype is being tested this month with several seniors in Florida, and the company is attending the Silvers Summit at CES 2014 in Las Vegas this week. He expects to start marketing the platform later this spring.
Movva says the CarePredict bracelet appeals to seniors because it's unobtrusive, and it appeals to adult consumers because it gives them the information they want – activity patterns and location – as opposed to data they don't really need. He expects interest from group living facilities who want to monitor individual tenants, as well as from providers whose patients have just had medical procedures and need to have their physical activity monitored.
"It's not Big Brother," he points out. "It's Big Love."
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