The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is working with Constant Care LLC and Lafayette General Medical Center to assess an integrated software and hardware system that will assist patients with chronic health issues.
Researchers with the University’s Center for Business and Information Technologies have conducted research and provided advice about software for a patient monitoring system.
The software is called LILAH. The name is an acronym for Living Independent Life at Home.
The software enables patients to:
• conduct “video chats” with a caregiver or medical professional,
• receive reminders to check their vital signs,
• get notifications to take medication,
• set up an electronic health record; and
• have others monitor their health remotely.
“As health care providers to the aging population, we identified an opportunity to develop a narrow technology solution that would allow individuals suffering from common chronic illnesses to live independently in their own homes with the assistance of their physician or caregiver,” said Daryl Doise, chief development officer of Constant Care LLC. “LILAH is proving to be a cost-effective technology solution when used in partnerships with hospitals, home health providers, skilled nursing facilities, physicians and mid-level practitioners.”
Cian Robinson, CBIT’s director, said the patient monitoring system could be used to “prevent return trips to a medical facility, and alert a caregiver or doctor’s office that a patient might need to take a prescription or need some other sort of assistance.”
CBIT, which provides technology-based economic development in Louisiana, will also give guidance about marketing the software.
Robinson said the monitoring device is based on a need identified by Constant Care LLC, which is LILAH’s parent company. “The project was brought to us by LILAH and Lafayette General Medical Center. People were either going to the facilities who didn’t need to be there, or who needed monitoring once they left,” he said.
Dr. Ziad Ashkar, chief medical officer at LGMC, said LILAH technology is being used by some patients when they are discharged from the hospital. “We are hoping not only to decrease readmissions, but also to save patients’ lives, since they are closely monitored. So far, our results look promising.”
The monitoring device has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
It helps detect significant changes in a patient’s vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate and concentration of oxygen in blood. Sensors can trigger alerts that prompt a case manager to check on a patient or contact the patient’s caregiver. The device is the first product created as a result of the Lafayette Living Lab for Healthcare Innovation.
The “Living Lab” is a community-wide initiative established to take advantage of Lafayette’s position as a hub for fiber optics technology and health care. It’s spearheaded by CBIT and LGMC.
The effort was launched last summer, based on Lafayette’s designation as one of 25 communities chosen to participate in a federal effort to foster creation of technology that will benefit the general public in several areas, including health care, according to us-ignite.org. Lafayette is a US Ignite community because of its advanced fiber optic network throughout the city.
The Living Lab and subsequent work on LILAH gained significant traction after last year’s second annual CajunCodeFest, a 27-hour coding competition organized by CBIT. During the event, teams analyze data, and create digital prototypes that may produce technology related to a predetermined health issue.
CajunCodeFest is intended to spark networking and business development among entrepreneurs and health care professionals.
Hundreds of software programmers and engineers, health care professionals, entrepreneurs, educators and students from other states and countries have attended each of the first two events.
“This is the type of thing that this community is set up to do, with its fiber optic infrastructure and with LGMC as a major healthcare system. It lets us serve as a ‘test bed’ for anyone who wants to come in and try out a news product, service or technology,” Robinson said.