VRI partners with telehealth provider MedApps for remote biometrics-based health monitoring

DAYTON, Ohio—Valued Relationships Inc., a healthcare services company with more than 20 years of experience providing telemonitoring, medication adherence and medical alert systems, on July 13 announced a partnership with MedApps, a provider of biometric technology solutions for the collection, transmission and remote management of patient health data.

According to VRI CEO Andy Schoonover, the partnership in which VRI will be monitoring the MedApps solution HealthPAL will benefit end users in need of round-the clock telehealth monitoring.

"Of all the standalone biometric capture devices on the market, we have found that the cellular connectivity and reliability really allows MedApps to stand apart from the rest," Schoonover told Security Systems News. "We are live monitoring the HealthPALs in the telehealth section of our Care Center. We have folks monitoring the information 24/7 and responding to biometric readings that our algorithms determine are outside the norm. We then have a brief conversation with the client to determine if there is imminent danger of a hospitalization and if so, we contact the appropriate party."

According to a release, HealthPAL is a small, portable, and dedicated device that MedApps uses to collect data from connected glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters (a medical device that indirectly monitors the oxygen saturation of a patient's blood) and weight scales. The data is monitored by VRI dispatchers and sent over a secure server to an online portal like Microsoft's HealthVault for caregivers, physicians or the patient themselves to view.

"We think VRI's ability to monitor the daily vital signs of patients with conditions like diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure will be enhanced with the MedApps system,” said MedApps CEO and founder of Kent Dicks in a statement. “Our CloudCare platform is designed to provide the ultimate in ease of installation, configuration and maintenance to take the focus off the technology and put it back on the patients and care providers. This is a perfect alignment with VRI's goal of increasing patient awareness and empowering them to be more involved in their own care management."

VRI's current PERS dealers have access to the HealthPAL devices and, according to Schoonover, are finding success selling them into home health agencies, hospitals, and other healthcare related entities.

"There is very little private pay business to date," Schoonover said. "But as the technology pricing continues to decline we see the caregivers and loved ones valuing the access to their parents or grandparents biometric information, if they took their medications, and the outcomes of a PERS activation all in one portal."