Scripps joins Anthem, Sentrian partnership for 1,000-patient, COPD remote monitoring study

Remote patient monitoring startup Sentrian has partnered with the Scripps Translational Science Institute to study 1,000 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. The one-year study will use biosensors to continuously monitor patients and analyze that data to offer alerts for any deterioration. The intention is to intervene before an event becomes acute and requires hospitalization.

The patients are all members of health plan CareMore Health, a Medicare Advantage subsidiary of Anthem ($WLP) that is specifically dedicated to offering supplemental insurance to seniors. In January, Anthem and Sentrian had announced that they would do a clinical trial of this size in an undisclosed chronic disease.

"This research collaboration with Sentrian and CareMore fits nicely with our mission at Scripps to study the latest advances in digital medicine technologies as part of our effort to replace traditional one-size-fits-all medicine with precision health care and to accelerate patient access to effective new approaches to treating illnesses," Dr. Steven Steinhubl, director of digital medicine at STSI, said in a statement. Participation by Scripps has enabled the testing to evolve into a formal, 12-month research study.

Added VP of clinical quality for CareMore Dr. David Ramirez, "Advanced analytics is the future of effective disease management in reducing hospital stays after an acute event, and providing for early prevention of traumatic episodes. This is exactly the kind of research study needed to get us to that future more quickly."

Sentrian CEO Dean Sawyer

Sentrian uses biosensors and wearable devices to continuously monitor patients. It feeds the data into its cloud-based analytics system to compare a given patient's data against global patient care rules, as well as patient specific data including history, comorbidities, exacerbations, and health benchmarks. Healthcare providers are then alerted when significant changes occur in patient status that might require intervention.

The startup launched late last year and comes out of accelerator Singularity University. It's raised $4 million in seed financing and another $8 million in a Series A round. Its investors include Reed Elsevier Ventures, Frost Data Capital and Telus ($TU).

The trio expects the study results could provide a model of care for other chronic diseases. "By working with scientific and health care leaders like Scripps and CareMore, I believe we can significantly reduce hospitalization and move toward the triple aim of health care--to simultaneously reduce cost, improve outcomes and improve patient satisfaction," Sentrian CEO Dean Sawyer said in a statement.

- here is the release