Las Vegas, NV – January 7, 2008 - 4HM unveiled its home health solution, a for-fee monthly service enabling independent living (IL) for seniors via remote monitoring from their care-givers. This innovative solution consists of ControlPoint™ software running in a Home HealthPoint gateway with various sensors in the home and a multi-party portal user-interface (UI) generated from the backend hosted Portal Server. By creating a passive monitoring network around a senior in their normal home setting, both family members and professional care-givers can log into a personalized Web page and get historical trend data, real-time status updates, and proactive alerts about the health and well-being for that monitored elder. The Portal Server delivers three unique and customized user-experiences based on the same data generated within the home– for the senior in their house, for the family member caregiver remotely, and for a medical or nursing facility remotely.
“An estimate 16 million seniors in the US could benefit from home health monitoring technology by 2012 and this addressable market will expand even faster beyond that point due to an aging baby boomer population,” said Harry Wang, Senior Analyst of digital health research at Dallas-based digital home technology consultancy Parks Associates, “the market calls for innovative applications and service models to raise user awareness and drive adoption.”
The recommended starter kit for the IL service includes the Home HealthPoint, three motion detectors, and an emergency pendant. The motion detectors are strategically placed around the home during the professional installation in the bedroom, at the entrance to the primary bathroom, and in the main trafficked area such as a foyer or living room. Additional sensor devices such as additional motion detectors, access contacts on the refrigerator or doors, a smart pillbox, or IP cameras can be utilized to supplement the monitoring data sets being produced within the home. Safety, comfort, and energy saving devices for the senior can be added such as a networked thermostat, safety lighting in or outside the home, appliance and lighting control accessories, gas leak detectors, air quality & fire detectors, or an IP-based intercom system. 4HM, a member of the Continua Alliance, is a strong advocate of open standards in medical devices and its ControlPoint ™ in-home software is able to support a wide variety of medical diagnostic devices to further supplement the health and well-being information for the senior, including a digital weight scale, a blood-pressure cuff, a glucose meter, or a pulse oximeter, depending on the needs of that particular monitored senior. Lastly, to battle psychological duress and the frequent isolation of a senior living alone– a common difficulty among the elder population that has proven negative health repercussions—4HM has integrated into the solution set friends-and-family photo sharing, interactive health surveys, and health and wellness video education.
“4HM, a sponsor and contributor to the Red Cross for the last two years, has a track-record in health services and is building a powerful coalition in the home health ecosystem, including broadband service providers looking to offer an IL or home health service, sensor and device manufacturers, professional medical and nursing entities, and Taiwanese-based Accton, ODM manufacturer of the Home HealthPoint 1500, a hardware reference design available for white-label introduction by hardware vendors or service providers,” said Nate Williams, VP of Strategic Marketing & Business Development for 4HM.
The 4HM-powered IL service will be available in the second half of 2008 through select broadband service providers, both in North America and internationally. While pricing is subject to a variety of factors, the monthly service will range from $30/month to $100/month, a bargain in comparison to the on average $72,000 annual fee for transitioning a senior into an assisted living facility, or the $40,000 to $70,000 annually for in-home nursing.
About 4HomeMedia, Inc.
4HomeMedia (4HM) is the leading provider of “home control services” which include home monitoring, media and entertainment management, home health, and energy management. With the sudden commoditization of the “triple play,” 4HomeMedia’s solution is in high-demand. 4HomeMedia’s ControlPoint™ and Portal Server software products allow hardware vendors and service providers to create and deploy compelling, easy-to-use, and profitable new applications and services for the connected home. A single copy of the networked ControlPoint™ software installed anywhere on the home network provides whole home coverage — from anywhere and at anytime. Portal Server is a robust broadband application server for the NOC providing scalable and manageable home control services for a broad, mass-market rollout. 4HomeMedia, Inc. is based in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information on 4HomeMedia and its award-winning solutions, please visit http://www.4HomeMedia.com