Proteus Digital Health today announced that Barton Health, a Lake Tahoe, CA-based non-profit, rural health system has become the first US healthcare provider to prescribe patients ingestible sensors using the company’s Proteus Discover solution. The deployment marks the first commercial implementation of the FDA-cleared technology in the United States after the completion of successful clinical trials.
Barton Health will utilize Proteus Discover to improve medication adherence for patients having challenges with uncontrolled and co-morbid hypertension. The end result is an effective tool to activate patients and their physicians with the personalized insights needed to reach their individual treatment goal.
How Proteus Discover works
A patient’s medications are co-encapsulated through specialty pharmacy services with a Proteus ingestible sensor, which is the size of a grain of sand and is activated when it reaches the stomach. On activation, the ingestible sensor communicates with a small sensor patch worn by the patient. The patch records the time of ingestion and personalized data such as heart rate, activity, and rest.
This information is then relayed electronically to the patient through an application on a mobile device, which also provides support and insight to the patient and allows them to share their data with their healthcare professional. Physicians and their care teams can access a web-based physician dashboard where they are provided with objective data that can inform personalized treatment decisions.
Patients Struggle with Medication Adherence
” Patients struggle with medication adherence for various reasons. When a non-adherent patient is not seeing results and the physician believes a patient is taking a medication, this may lead to unnecessary changes in treatment which can be costly for the patient and the health system,” says Dr. Purvance, Chief Executive Officer of Barton Health in a statement. “This new product offering provides a data-driven communication channel between the medical provider and the patient that empowers the patient to take the appropriate dose of medication and better understand the importance of daily activity levels and other lifestyle changes.”
Proteus and the company’s partners are undergoing further FDA review for a panel of Digital Medicines, where the ingestible sensor is directly integrated into the medication.
