Healthy.io and Johns Hopkins Collaborate to Utilize New Patient-Facing Technology to Improve Wound Care Management

The program will work to establish remote monitoring for patients within Johns Hopkins Hospital to improve the outcomes for chronic wounds  

BOSTON, March 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Healthy.io, the global leader in transforming the smartphone camera into a medical device, is launching a groundbreaking program utilizing smartphone-based technology to improve wound care management for patients suffering from chronic diabetic wounds. This pilot program expands access to Healthy.io’s Minuteful for Wound solution to patients in the division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy department at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 37.3 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 96 million have prediabetes. Diabetes and chronic wounds are often connected, with 19-33% of patients with diabetes developing diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) or other chronic wound conditions in their lifetime. This collaboration addresses this critical issue within the population and enables patients to scan their wounds with convenience and privacy from their own homes using their smartphones and the Minuteful for Wound app. The solution allows care teams to remotely monitor patients in real-time, providing early interventions to prevent severe wound deterioration that can lead to amputations, resulting in better health outcomes and cost savings. 

The first phase of the ongoing pilot program, documented in a manuscript recently published in Frontiers in Endocrinology showed promising results. For 36% of the patients, the real-time at-home remote-monitoring access through the app led to clinical changes to their wound management, such as changing their wound care procedure or scheduling an earlier clinic appointment. Additionally, 94% of patients reported the system was easy to use and beneficial, with less frequent in-person appointments and better continuity of care. 

The program already showcased the importance of swift intervention for limb preservation for patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital Diabetic Vascular Clinic who were at risk of amputation. In one particular case, the proactive approach of a patient using the Minuteful for Wound app, and the clinician’s ability to review the wound status remotely between clinic visits using the Minuteful for Wound portal enabled timely interventions to preserve the patient’s limb.  

This pilot is the first time the performance of a digitized wound care patient-facing application without the mediation of a nurse has been studied thoroughly in a two-arm comparison study. Despite health systems’ enthusiasm for telemedicine after the COVID-19 pandemic, research documenting the impact of patient-centered technologies on wound care is scarce. Previous studies measuring the impact of remote chronic wound monitoring involved the use of a trained nurse who facilitated the telemedicine communication between the patient and physician. Thanks to the collaboration, this pilot has been able to study the impact of quality of care when patients and their caregivers have shared responsibility for capturing and submitting remote wound scans repeatedly.

The promising results of the first phase of the pragmatic trial have led to a follow-up larger study in multiple locations in the USA and Canada, measuring the wound healing efficacy for remote wound app monitoring versus the standard in-person clinic visits for the treatment of lower extremity wounds.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Johns Hopkins to utilize this innovative technology, which empowers patients and their caregivers to take an active role in their wound care management,” said Geoff Martin, CEO of Healthy.io. “This new patient-centered technology offers a convenient, precise, and reliable solution for early detection and intervention, ultimately improving the patient outcomes and saving significant costs.”

To learn more about Minuteful for Wound, please visit: https://healthy.io/services/wound/

ABOUT HEALTHY.IO  

Healthy.io transforms the smartphone camera into a medical device to deliver healthcare at the speed of life. The company’s at-home urinalysis and digitized wound care services enable providers and healthcare systems to close gaps in access and care while increasing patient satisfaction. Healthy.io is a global leader in digital health and is a recipient of the 2023 MedTech Breakthrough ‘Best In-Home Testing Solution’ Award and the Juniper Research’s Digital Health Innovation ‘Best Digital Diagnostics Solution’ 2023 Award. The company has offices in Boston, London, and Tel-Aviv.

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SOURCE Healthy.io