University Of Michigan Launches Smart Blood Pressure Monitoring Study
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Home-based monitoring uses smartphones to track hypertension.
A 25-person pilot study at the University of Michigan will use Tactio Health Group’s smartphone home-based blood pressure monitoring system on people with hypertension. Led by Dr. Lorraine Buis, assistant professor, Department of Family Medicine, the study will provide each participant with a Bluetooth-connected blood pressure monitor and a TactioRPM (Remote Patient Monitoring) mobile app, enabling them to send data directly to clinical pharmacists who will then track patients’ readings and intervene when appropriate.
Buis won a MICHR pilot grant for $25,000 to examine the smart phone app’s effect on healthcare according to the University of Michigan. Buis has previously studied the use of text messages among patients with hypertension and published her results as Text Messaging to Improve Hypertension Medication Adherence in African Americans: BPMED Intervention Development and Study Protocol.
“This [present] study seeks to put patient collected data into the hands of a healthcare provider who has the ability to act on that data in near-real time,” said Buis. “I am excited by the opportunity to connect patients with their care team in a way that has the potential to dramatically change routine clinical practice in primary care. By using the TactioRPM platform to connect patients with their providers, and by better understanding how to meaningfully integrate this technology into a clinical setting, we have the potential to demonstrate the full benefit that mobile health has to offer.”
Study recruitment will start immediately and the pilot is expected to conclude in the first half of 2016. Hypertension affects close to 78 million Americans and costs the U.S. healthcare system almost $43 billion.