DENVER — A new medical device is about to make its debut, and it’s happening in Colorado.
“This is almost as simple as it gets. It’s a sticker, and the user manual basically consists of three words: stick it on. So, if you can place a bandaid, we see that most patients will be able to use this,” said James Mault, MD, FACS, founder and chief executive officer for BioIntelliSense.
It’s called a BioSticker and it can monitor a patient’s vital signs from anywhere for at least 30 days.
“We can actually monitor a patient and detect illness before a patient feels as though they’re short of breath, develops pain, thinks that they have a fever. We’ll know that, before that,” said Richard Zane, MD, chief innovation officer for UCHealth.
According to UCHealth, the BioSticker will help reduce costs for patients.
“One, it can avoid admission to the hospital, which is one of the most expensive things that we do. And two, it can prevent the requirement to have a return visit to an emergency department and be admitted to the hospital,” Zane said.
Doctors say the device will send the hospital analytics, reading a patient’s respiratory rate, resting heart rate, and skin temperature.
But it goes further, watching their gait, sneeze, cough, their body position and more.
All this, doctors say, will allow patients to be treated before an incident happens.
“We’ll be able to see that patient is at risk for becoming ill hours, maybe days or even weeks before they become symptomatic,” Zane said.
According to UCHealth, this technology from BioIntelliSense helps them maintain a goal: Keeping patients healthy and at home.
“It just changes the whole landscape of the care delivery process in a much more affordable way,” said Steve Hess, chief information officer for UCHealth.
Whether it’s a general care patient age 21 or older who just had surgery or suffers from chronic illness, doctors say they believe this will have a big impact on healthcare visits.
UCHealth says they expect to start using the BioSticker within the next year.
