FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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VPG Medical Launches First-of-a-Kind Heart Failure Study Using Smart Device Cameras. Camera sensors will perform in-home monitoring of heart rhythm through skin color changes
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JUNE 24, 2019 - ROCHESTER, N.Y. – VPG Medical, Inc., a Rochester-based developer of advanced . solutions for the home-based health monitoring and personalized wellness markets, announced today that it has launched a unique pilot study that monitors heart failure patients in their home environments utilizing cameras found in standard smart devices. The company’s HealthKam technology unobtrusively monitors the heart rhythm of patients to look for daily and long-term
trends, including whether patients are remembering to take their beta blocker medication and for other signs of worsening health status. While patients are using their smart devices at home for doing ordinary tasks (e.g., reading through emails or watching a video), the HealthKam platform works in the background to detect very slight changes in color that occur in the facial skin when a person’s heart beats. By regularly collecting such heart beat information over time, medical providers and chronic care managers may be able to get early, actionable information about their heart failure patients to enable timely interventions and improvement of care. “What is critically important about the HealthKam technology is that it requires no effort or change of routine on the part of patients,” said Dr. Jean-Philippe Couderc, chief executive officer of VPG Medical. “Using smart devices has become a prevalent part of daily life, and the HealthKam technology taps into this widespread behavior to help in the treatment of heart failure patients and those suffering from other chronic diseases.” The pilot study is being conducted in collaboration with Accountable Health Partners, an Accountable Care Organization that works with over 2,000 healthcare providers and multiple hospitals throughout the Greater Rochester region. Study participants are heart failure patients in the Rochester, New York area that have volunteered to take part in the research. The HealthKam technology is designed to neither retain nor transmit any photographic images or video, thus protecting the privacy and dignity of patients. VPG Medical was formed last year to commercialize technologies developed at the University of Rochester and at Rochester Institute of Technology for passively detecting heart rate through camera sensors. The technology is also currently being tested on atrial fibrillation patients through a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. VPG Medical is part of the Luminate startup accelerator, a program of NextCorps.
About VPG Medical:
VPG Medical, Inc. is a development-stage company commercializing technologies for monitoring heart rhythm and other medical information through smart devices. Research underpinning the VPG Medical technology – known as HealthKam – was developed through programs at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. HealthKam is optimized for use in home-monitoring, as well as in applications for personalized wellness and chronic care management. For more information, please visit: www.vpgmedical.com.
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Contact:
Gill Tsouri
VPG Medical, Inc.
Phone: +1-585-360-6665
Email: g.tsouri@vpgmedical.com
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