Dive Brief:
- University of Michigan Health System will conduct a 25-person pilot study using Tactio Health Group's smartphone home-based blood pressure monitoring system on people with hypertension.
- Each study participant will be given a Bluetooth-connected blood pressure monitor and the company's TactioRPM (Remote Patient Monitoring) mobile app, which sends data to clinical pharmacists. The pharmacists will intervene based on patients' reading and adherence.
- Based in Montreal, Tactio develops smartphone-connected remote patient monitoring devices. It registered TactioRPM as a Class I Medical Device Data System (MDDS) last month with the FDA.
Dive Insight:
The study will be led by Dr. Lorraine Buis, assistant professor, Department of Family Medicine, who said in a statement, as reported by MobiHealthNews, "I am excited by the opportunity to connect patients with their care team in a way that has the potential to dramatically change routine clinical practice in primary care. The study seeks to put patient-collected data into the hands of a healthcare provider who has the ability to act on that data in near-real time."
Study recruitment will start immediately and the pilot is expected to conclude in the first half of 2016. Hypertension affects close to 78 million Americans and costs the U.S. healthcare system almost $43 billion, according to a PR Newswire article published by The Street.