HealthCare Partners Nevada Aims to Save Lives with Nation’s First Coronavirus/COVID-19 Downloadable Home Health Monitoring Application
HealthCare Partners Nevada (HCPNV) in partnership with Harmonize Inc, has launched, a free downloadable application, to help detect coronavirus/COVID-19 related symptoms in your home to reduce the spread of the virus and save lives. The application, called Harmonize Health, is now available for both iPhone and Android devices.
“As far as we know, we are the first and only company in the United States deploying in-home monitoring technology to mitigate the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Steven Evans, Senior Medical Director for Population Health at HealthCare Partners Nevada. “Allowing people to avoid seeking testing or treatment in busy, crowded medical facilities, unless absolutely necessary, will save lives by reducing community exposure and placing undue stress on medical staff and resources. We are going to do this through home-monitoring.”
Dr. Evans believes it will be possible to use a similar technology, developed and deployed by HCPNV to identify and treat influenza (flu) in high-risk patients, to diagnose and treat coronavirus patients before the illness becomes too severe.
Who Is Eligible
HCPNV will offer the Harmonize Health HCPNV myGeneration at Home coronavirus monitoring program to its high-risk myGeneration Senior Clinic patients. Those at the highest risk for complications and death from COVID-19 include people over 65 and those with severe chronic medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease.
How HCPNV Coronavirus Home Monitoring Works
HCPNV patients first register through a simple process registration at hcpnv.com. From there, they will be able to register for the program. Once registered, they will receive an email with a link and instructions to download the application. Once signed-in, the program will monitor the patient for signs and symptoms of coronavirus infection such as temperature, cough, and shortness of breath, which will be inputted into the application by the patient. Patients will need to have access to a thermometer and a smartphone device. Through a partnership with Harmonize Inc., these vital signs will be followed remotely. If changes in temperature are noted, or the patients experience symptoms suggestive of coronavirus infection, they will be contacted by video conference for possible COVID-19 testing, further evaluation, or treatment.
About HealthCare Partners Nevada’s Home Health Monitoring History
In 2019, HealthCare Partners Nevada implemented a unique influenza early detection monitoring and treatment program named Flu 2000 for many of its most vulnerable patients with Humana and United Healthcare Medicare Advantage Insurance. Partnering with Harmonize Inc., a leading digital health platform specializing in remote care, HCPNV enrolled 2,000 patients with COPD and congestive heart failure in a program to monitor then at home through the flu season and beyond.
Using special health coaches and Bluetooth® enabled home vital signs monitoring, such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, weight, and oxygen saturation, HCPNV and Harmonize were able to detect when patients first showed signs of the flu. This often occurred even before the patients themselves knew they were coming down with the illness.
The readings were analyzed remotely, and those that indicated a possibility of flu were escalated to HCPNV doctors. Those doctors then reviewed the patient’s medical records and remote monitoring data, before contacting the patients by phone and videoconference. The doctors were then able to assess what type of intervention was needed. Some of the patients were given prescriptions for Tamiflu. Others were brought in to visit their primary care physician. And still, others received a visit from an HCPNV house calls provider.