Medtech Global clinical trial of telehealth technology

Medtech Global gains further funding for clinical trial of telehealth technology

Auckland, June 24 2014 - Medtech Global has gained a further funding grant of just over $1.6 million to progress with the Australian-based clinical trial of its VitelMed telehealth technology for the remote monitoring of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients.

The Victorian Government’s grant (A$1.5m) will enable Medtech to take VitelMed to the validation stage of the Health Market Validation Program (Health MVP) in Victoria.

The Health MVP is an A$15 million Victorian Government program to promote demand-driven innovation in Victoria's healthcare system. The Health MVP uses an international best practice model for targeting innovative technology to improve healthcare service delivery.

The Health MVP partners Victorian health agencies with innovative small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Together, SMEs and health agencies work to improve health service delivery by developing new, market-ready technology. Medtech’s Australian base is in South Melbourne.

The funding announcement follows the assessment and approval of Medtech’s recent feasibility study conducted with MEPACS, a service unit of Peninsula Health based in Victoria. Medtech will partner with Peninsula Health to develop a remote monitoring system for chronic heart failure patients to automatically report personal health data to their health service via the internet or portable smart devices.

Medtech chief executive Vino Ramayah says the validation stage will investigate a method of remote monitoring for CHF patients to automatically report (in real time) personal health data to clinicians, via the internet or portable smart devices.

“This will enable CHF patients to remain in their home for longer and reduce periods of hospitalisation,” explains Mr Ramayah. “It will also enable access to healthcare through teleheath.

“This project will provide a proving ground for reducing the cost of healthcare for CHF patients particularly in Victoria but also worldwide. The VitelMed technology solution used for this CHF telehealth will be useful for the management of other chronic diseases in future.”

Mr Ramayah says the VitelMed CHF solution is able to bridge the gap between primary and secondary healthcare by maintaining a continuum of care using universal technology.

Mr Rama Kumble, Medtech’s chief technology officer, says the key innovation of the VitelMed cloud-based technology is in enabling clinicians to provide targeted care at the point of need; providing the right care at the right time.

“Using commercially-available, popular medical devices, tablets and mobile phones has made our solution affordable and commercially sustainable. The technology enables patients’ involvement in self-care with a simple user interface,” says Mr Kumble.

Medtech is known for its innovation in many areas including practice management solutions, patient portals, shared electronic health records (www.medtechglobal.com) and telehealth.

ENDS

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