MiHealth Monitoring Launches for Medicare Recipients with Chronic Health Problems

Medical Innovations LLC today announced the launch of MiHealth Monitoring a Medicare covered daily at-home remote asynchronous monitoring service for patients with chronic health problems.

The COVID-19 health crisis has had a major disruptive effect and MiHealth Monitoring is designed to help medical professionals keep a close eye on their patients at home while keeping vulnerable patients out of waiting rooms filled with sick people.

“We have realized that with current and developing technologies, we can actually manage patients better in their home than we can at the office,” said MiHealth Monitoring creator Kirk Voelker, MD.  

The MiHealth platform leverages the technology of activity trackers such as FitBit that record activity and heart rate every minute of the day – providing tracking of a patient’s normal activity patterns as well as their heart rate response to a given activity. 

MiHealth Monitoring combines artificial intelligence with real human medical intelligence to see when there are deviations from normal patterns.  This may indicate that there is an early problem which the patient themselves may not even be aware of.  In addition, by directly interfacing with a simple finger oxygen meter, unique ways to look at the body’s response to activity have been discovered, allowing for the detection of early physiologic changes that may indicate an exacerbation of a heart or lung problem. 

How does this work in reality? Dr. Voelker has recently completed a study of 60 emphysema patients discharged from the hospital, with half receiving home monitoring while the other half received usual care.  In the group with usual care there were 6 readmissions to the hospital and 3 emergency room visits.  In the group of patients on MiHealth Monitoring at home, there were no readmissions and only one ER visit.  Of additional importance, those who were monitored were very grateful that professionals were checking in on them. 

“Because of the COVID scare, many people with chronic health problems are feeling anxious and isolated.  As the economy re-opens, some experts have suggested that those over 65 continue moderated self-isolation.   MiHealth Monitoring provides the knowledge and comfort that comes from knowing someone is watching over them. Fortunately, Medicare has realized the value in remote monitoring and during the COVID-19 emergency period, has even dropped the co-pay requirement making it no cost for all Medicare patients. When we see something out of the ordinary, we contact our patients using the HIPAA-secure questionnaire, text, voice or video chat functions of the MiHealth Monitoring integrated app.  If there is a concern, we then contact the patient’s physician to make them aware that early intervention may be needed,” Dr. Voelker said.

MiHealth Monitoring was created by critical care pulmonologist and Medical Innovations founder Dr. Kirk Voelker, who serves as the director of clinical research for Sarasota Memorial Hospital and is helping drive the Covid-19 treatment research efforts there.

“For patients recently discharged from the hospital, with daily post-hospitalization monitoring we can identify patients who need early intervention.  Standard practice calls for a check-up appointment with a physician within weeks following discharge, MiHealth Monitoring allows medical staff to observe what happens in the interim, in that crucial time from discharge to next appointment,” Dr. Voelker concluded.

MiHealth is designed to look at health and recovery trends over time – it is not designed to be a “real time” vital sign or emergency service. MiHealth Monitoring is covered by Medicare and standard copay may apply.

To find out more about MiHealth Monitoring, please go to www.MiHealthMonitoring.info.