Karmanos Cancer Institute to Pilot Digital Care Platform
The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the largest cancer research and provider network in Michigan, plans to launch a pilot program this spring that provides patients and their caregivers an integrated digital care platform to help them manage cancer care at home.
The Detroit-based Karmanos Cancer Institute is collaborating on the project with Lifeguard Health Networks. It will pilot Lifeguard’s LifeguardMobile solution this spring with its Thoracic Oncology Multidisciplinary Team and will use the application to connect cancer patients, caregivers and Karmanos clinicians through its remote patient monitoring (RPM) application.
Lifeguard’s solutions deliver RPM and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM), and integrate with more than 20 sensors and wearables to track medication adherence, symptoms and side effects, vital signs, and elements of wellness. Based on clinical thresholds developed by Karmanos providers, the application has the ability to generate notifications when a patient exceeds a threshold or is trending toward a clinical event. Using secure communications technology, the Lifeguard platform will let patients and caregivers and the Karmanos clinical team consult via direct-to-mobile, messaging or video. This feature can help prevent a potential clinical decline by allowing patients to have their care managed remotely by care team members in real-time.
For the Karmanos clinical team, the Lifeguard platform supports patient monitoring and virtual care management between visits and the longitudinal patient-reported data informs a more efficient and beneficial in-office patient visit. With this longitudinal profile, Karmanos clinical staff can draw upon extensive data supporting enhanced care management, improving delivery of patient care.
“Lifeguard’s ability to virtually monitor our patients for reported vitals as well as symptoms experienced in real-time means we will be able to further enhance our care coordination to the home and allow our staff to maintain clinical connectivity between patient appointments,” said Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of Karmonos Cancer Institute, in a statement. “We look forward to enhancing the cancer journey through better care coordination using this novel at-home virtual care technology.”
Patients and caregivers access the solution through a smartphone application available from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. The Lifeguard solution can be used by the patient or by an authorized patient proxy to inform, communicate and report on patient health status with the healthcare team at Karmanos.
In a separate announcement, Karmanos also is opening a new cancer center, the Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Greater Lansing. Opening Feb. 28, the new cancer center is a collaboration between McLaren Greater Lansing, and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, in partnership with MSU Health Care. The partnership will help recruit top clinicians to the region,
“The new cancer center is a space where all our caregivers, from social workers to physicians, can work together to ensure each patient receives the individual care and resources they need for the treatment of their cancer,” said Amit Bhatt, M.D., Ph.D., radiation oncologist at the Karmanos Cancer Institute at McLaren Greater Lansing, in a statement. “This incredible facility will support the heart and soul of our patients through massage and music therapy, nutrition counseling, and financial support, and will include advanced telemedicine technology to facilitate communication with experts within the Karmanos network and the state.”
