Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HeartWatch (HeartWatch - contactless patient vital signs monitoring)
Período documentado: 2018-08-01 hasta 2018-11-30
HeartWatch is an Italian company founded in 2017 in Milan with the vision of bringing about a new era of contactless monitoring of vital signs that is available to everyone. HeartWatch offers a revolutionary system for Contact-Free Continuous Monitoring (CFCM) of multiple vital signs and activity parameters in bedridden patients. Their first product, TeiaCare, uses a unique combination of advanced facial recognition, signal processing and machine learning analytics to detect early signs of cardiac and respiratory problems, and automatically alert caregivers. The team is now working towards developing an upgraded system able to also identify the risk of falls, to prevent bedsores incidence, and to predict the upcoming risk of health status deterioration. The key objectives of the development are to implement the software with the capability of monitoring of subject’s position in bed over time; to clinically validate the system through a multi-centre clinical study, to establish his economic viability, and to obtain CE mark and certification of the system as a medical device.
Throughout the duration of the project, HeartWatch defined the users’ requirements for software implementation, defined the software specifications and reviewed its development plan, and scouted for hospitals and nursing homes to support in the validation stages. The market segments and opportunities have also been evaluated, defining the TAM and SAM. HeartWatch established a commercialisation strategy. The Phase 1 feasibility assessment has established that a development plan for the TeiaCare service is technically and commercially viable, and that implementation of a commercialisation plan should be pursued. SME Instrument Phase 2 funding could provide the correct amount of funding and support to allow the stated activities to be implemented successfully.
Every year, about 421 million people in the world, of which 88 million in the EU, are admitted to hospitals. The onset of severe, preventable complications during hospitalization, mainly due to inefficient monitoring systems, causes every year an economic burden of about €85 billion for prolonged hospitalization and care. This expenditure is set to double or even triple between now and 2050, due to the global population ageing trend and the accompanying increase of individuals in need for continuous assistance and support either in hospitals or nursing homes. Moreover, it is estimated that in the next 10 years the shortage of caregivers such as nurses will amount to 7.6 million. Detecting early warning signs can reduce cost by 40%. To this extent, the EC are strongly promoting the adoption of telemedicine solutions for remote patient monitoring which enable proactive and preventive care, thus reducing the demand for nursing and caring services. HeartWatch solution – TeiaCare – will be the first contactless, clinically-validated, multi-parameter monitoring system enabling caregivers to be constantly informed about a patient’s health status and the risk of deterioration. TeiaCare will also enable to prevent the risk of complications such as falls and bedsores, thus increasing the quality of life of patients, reducing the burden for caregivers and enabling medical facilities to save up to €3 million per year.