The system permits patients to evaluate their medical condition and access health professionals when needed, and it enables the care provider to better manage the patient's condition through electronic visits that are low cost and as frequent as necessary. Researchers say the system has a huge potential market for assisted living centers, nursing homes and even prisons as well as the personal homes of people with chronic health problems who typically spend a lot of time at a doctor's office, emergency room or in the hospital. It's a new market driven by the need to improve the level of care for patients outside of the hospital setting. Insurance providers are interested in the system's ability to help avoid hospitalization for chronic health problems and physicians see the system as a tool for serving patients in multiple settings, Haines said. We are excited that the marketplace is really coming after us without any promotion on our part.
Pilot projects are underway with four large customers of the company.
CyberCare, Inc. plans its first shipment of the new version of the system in the third quarter of 1998. The original prototypes have been collected from the homes of patients and will be available for trial use by companies interested in purchasing the system, said Dr. Max E. Stachura, director of the MCG Telemedicine Center, who will work with CyberCare in overseeing the system s further clinical development. The capabilities of the original system already have been expanded to include a spirometer to check lung function, a glucometer to check blood glucose levels and a fetal heart rate monitor and uterine activity monitor for high-risk pregnancies. With the original prototype, health care providers could listen to the patient's heart and lungs and perform an electrocardiogram in addition to checking their heart rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure and weight. The potential patient populations are enormous, including people with congestive heart failure, diabetes, high-risk pregnancies, the elderly, and people with multiple medical problems, he said.