Asthmapolis, the three-year-old mHealth company with the quirky name and a goal of developing a mobile management platform for asthma sufferers, is changing its identity.
Beginning today, the company is known as Propeller Health. And officials are hoping the new moniker will, ahem, take flight as they unveil an expanded platform for people with asthma and COPD and plans to tackle other respiratory conditions.
"We're broadening the scope of the company," said David Van Sickle, CEO and co-founder of the Madison, Wis.-based company, in a recent interview. "Propeller Health represents what we like about our technology – it's simple and transparent, but it accomplishes a lot. It means energy and innovation."
Through its sensors, smartphone app and analytics platform, Asthmapolis gained traction in the mHealth landscape by pushing personalized information to both the patient and the physician, providing data on medication use as well as feedback. The company's sensor acts as a kind of asthma diary, capturing medication use and other data and storing it in the user's smartphone, which can then be shared with the physician to create a better management plan.
Recently, the company adapted its platform to target COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), the third-leading cause of death in the United States, with a healthcare price tag of some $50 billion a year. What's more, experts say that while there are 14.8 million physician-diagnosed cases of COPD in this country, more than 12 million more are undiagnosed.
"COPD is … an extremely costly disease, both in its actual medical costs and the impairments that limit patients with this illness," said David Mannino, MD, an international expert on COPD and a professor and chairman of the University of Kentucky Department of Preventive Medicine and Environment, in a press release issued by Propeller Health. "I believe using technology to help improve adherence and give clinicians early indications of increasing symptoms or exacerbations is valuable and will make an important contribution to helping people successfully manage the disease."
Van Sickle said Propeller Health is moving beyond the mobile monitoring stage and refining its platform to help patients and their physicians better manage their conditions. It's an issue of particular concern to the COPD field, as studies have indicated half to three-quarters of all healthcare costs associated with COPD are a result of exacerbations. Those same studies have indicated that only between 32 percent and 50 percent of those with COPD are taking their medications properly.
Van Sickle said Propeller Health's prospects are buoyed by early outcomes from the San Francisco-based Dignity Health network, a 17-state, 60,000-provider organization that's billed as the fifth largest network in the nation. Dignity officials have said that while 30 percent to 40 percent of people with asthma normally report having their disease under control, more than 75 percent of those using the Propeller Health platform reported controlling their asthma, with as much as 80 percent continuing to use the platform six months after enrollment.
"We need to be doing everything we can to help people manage their health conditions and prevent unnecessary trips to the hospital," said Rich Roth, Dignity's vice president of strategic innovation, in the press release. "Propeller Health is in a position to make a big difference for our patients."
In July, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers, a 20-site network based in San Diego, adopted the Propeller Health platform for its asthma patients.
“We are always looking for ways to provide quality care and better the lives of our patients,” said Parag Agnihotri, medical director of continuum of care at Sharp Rees-Stealy, in a press release. “For patients with asthma, we sought an innovative way to help them understand their triggers to better manage their health.”
“This inspires patients to self-manage their disease,” Agnihotri said, noting that many of their patients frequently complain that they don't have the time or ability to track their own medication use. “We chose Asthmapolis so we could offer a creative mobile solution that engages patients, encourages regular two-way communication between the patient and clinician, and yields new and useful information for our care teams.”
Van Sickle pointed out that conditions like COPD and asthma are costly and potentially deadly because so many people don't manage their health properly, either failing to take their medications when they should, or taking too much. This leads to health crises, which lead to a trip to the doctor's office or emergency room. And with federal officials cracking down on wasteful health expenditures and penalizing hospitals for preventable readmissions, proper chronic disease management is fast becoming a hot topic.
"This is an opportunity for us," said Van Sickle.
