Geisinger, AstraZeneca Partner on Asthma App Suite

Pennsylvania-based integrated health system Geisinger has partnered with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to create a suite of products that integrate into the electronic health record and engage asthma patients and their providers in co-managing the disease, especially during intervals between office visits.

The new asthma app suite includes a mobile app that allows patients to view asthma-related weather forecasts, log symptoms and asthma triggers, establish medication reminders, track health status over time, and communicate with their healthcare team.

Geisinger noted that some asthma patients can have multiple attacks per week, and it isn't feasible or necessary to see a doctor every time. With the new app products, attacks and symptoms can be tracked and easily monitored in real-time by the full spectrum of the healthcare team.

Mobile app data is connected to a real-time, web-based application called Provider Asthma Management Assistant. The assistant combines EHR and patient-reported data feeds to enable asthma educators and respiratory therapists to triage patients on the fly and bring in specialists as needed.

"Patients sometimes do a lot worse with their asthma than we know based on a three-, six-, or nine-month periodic office visit," explained Paul Simonelli, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Geisinger, in a prepared statement. "This new suite of products could easily be adapted to any long-term chronic respiratory illness that needs monitoring, including COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)."

Geisinger and AstraZeneca said their partnership in developing the asthma app suite uses scientific expertise from both companies in disease management, patient engagement, adherence, healthcare innovation, research, and technology to fundamentally redesign how asthma patients are diagnosed and treated.