The new "smart toilet seat" could save thousands of people and monitor the vital signs of home comfort

With 1 million new cases of congestive heart failure diagnosed each year, this revolutionary new bathroom product makes it easier for hospitals to monitor patients with this disease in the comfort of their homes.

A cardiovascular surveillance system based on the toilet seat created by a team of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology aims to reduce readmission rates to hospital patients with congestive heart failure.

The toilet seats, which will be controlled by the FDA authorization process by the Heart Health Intelligence research company, would be purchased by hospitals and distributed to patients with heart failure after discharge.

The toilet seats are equipped to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart and to monitor the heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation rate and weight and systolic volume of the patient, which corresponds to the amount of blood extracted from the heart with each pumping. beat. Algorithms badyze the data and, with subsequent developments, will alert advanced service providers of the deterioration of the state. A report will be sent to cardiologists who will then determine if an intervention is necessary.

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Nicholas Conn, a postdoctoral fellow at RIT and founder and CEO of Heart Health Intelligence, is part of the university team that has developed the toilet seats and published studies on its success.

"Typically, within 30 days of leaving the hospital, 25% of patients with congestive heart failure are readmitted," Conn said. "After 90 days of leaving the hospital, 45% of patients are readmitted – and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are penalizing. hospitals to readmit patients for heart failure. "

Conn, the company's general manager, further explains that, using the national average for readmission rates, the penalty alone for the readmission of 150 patients is approximately $ 500,000 per year. Given that the total cost of providing monitored toilet seats for 150 patients is less than half that amount, hospitals will be inclined to use life-saving devices.

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According to Conn, who has earned three degrees at RIT, the system will detect conditions that are deteriorating even before patients realize that they are symptomatic. And with the rapid badysis of data, interventions can be as simple as a change of medication or a short visit to the office, instead of an admission to the hospital.

HHI, which joined the RIT Venture Creations business incubator earlier this year, is now focused on advancing the product. The team is actively involved in writing grant and networking applications, and testing on human subjects and preclinical studies is well underway. Conn and his team are working on product approval with the FDA and its deployment across the country.

(Source: Rochester Institute of Health)

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