Healthsense monitoring technology

GreatCall, maker of mobile technology for seniors, has acquired home-monitoring startup Healthsense. The two privately held companies did not disclose terms of the deal.

Mendota Heights, Minnesota-based Healthsense places wireless sensors around living spaces to monitor patients at home and in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. The company then applies algorithms to data collected by the sensors to, as GreatCall CEO David Inns described it, “predict high-cost health episodes in seniors.”

“We will be integrating these technologies into our portfolio,” Inns said. GreatCall wants to be able to, for example, combine data from its existing line of personal emergency response systems and Healthsense’s home sensors to get “the most robust and accurate picture” of its users, according to Inns.

The goal is to keep people out of the hospital and long-term care centers. “We want to catch [health] issues before they turn into something really expensive that results in something long-term,” Inns said.

GreatCall cited a yearlong study of the technology at Fallon Health in Worcester, Massachusetts. A combination of remote monitoring and Fallon’s care coordination cut inpatient hospital spending by 32.2 percent, emergency care costs by 39.4 percent and saved 67.7 percent on long-term care. That worked out to $687 per member per month, GreatCall said.

The acquisition of Healthsense also opens up new sales channels for GreatCall, which started as a direct-to-consumer company. The acquired entity markets its products through senior care facilities, integrated delivery networks and health insurers. “They bring relationships in the commercial healthcare and senior-living communities,” Inns said.

Image: Healthsense