Philips expands its Population Health Management Portfolio

Royal Philips has launched HomeSafe in the UK, a robust, analytics-driven telecare solution designed to reduce risk, lower costs and improve outcomes for patients who are at risk of falling.

HomeSafe features Auto-Alert, a telecare system that uses patient-centred devices and the latest in data analytics to help care givers manage their populations at risk of falls, helping them optimise resources and improve care.

Auto-Alert is the latest addition to the Philips population health management portfolio, as part of the Philips vision of ‘Connecting care for continuous health’– a way to better analyse, manage and take shared responsibility for the health of individuals and populations. Continuous Health means creating immediate and uninterrupted connections and interactions that promote ongoing health and proactive care, from hospital to home.

Auto-Alert represents an important step in population health management through its highly accurate fall detection, ensuring help is provided when needed. The Philips innovative approach to falls management is set to include falls prevention from 2017, when the CareSage predictive analytics engine comes onto market in the UK. CareSage, already available in the US, will be hosted on the Philips HealthSuite digital platform.

'Falls in older people cost the NHS £2.3bn per year, with falls and fractures in the over-65s accounting for four million hospital bed days each year in England alone. Yet 27% of hospitalisations may be avoided with proactive care,' said Andy Calchadora Business Development Director UK&I at Philips Home Monitoring.

'With their “intelligence to reduce hospitalisation” mission, the HomeSafe innovations we are launching in the UK market are set to reduce pressure on health and social care budgets through the reduction in avoidable hospital admissions as well as improved patient outcomes and well-being.'

The HomeSafe Auto-Alert is now available in the UK across a range of pendant devices. Highly accurate, Auto-Alert detects 95% of true falls with its advanced fall detection algorithm. It combines calculations of altitude drop, velocity, orientation change and impact to recognise when a fall has occurred. The pendant is waterproof, allowing the patient to wear the device in the bath or shower, where falls are common. Auto-Alert is designed to automatically contact the care team when a fall is detected.

'Auto-Alert has the potential to improve the outcomes of older patients at risk of falls and fractures, as its automatic fall detection means patients receive care when it’s needed,' added Calchadora. 'This is the first step in the UK market Philips telecare offering – next year Philips is set to launch a multi-sensor device with a built-in algorithm for falls prevention, going one step further.'