Health IT, Startups

Jintronix gets validation for FDA-cleared remote monitoring tools for physical therapy

Among the areas its remote physical therapy tracking platform targets are patients recovering from stroke, hip replacement, hip fractures and knee replacement.

Clinical validation has been a big chapter for digital health startups in 2015, no less so with Jintronix. Since its participation in the Wharton Healthcare Conference earlier this year, it has focused more on helping geriatric patients recover from procedures and less on sports medicine.

In a phone interview with CEO and Co-founder Mark Evin, he noted that one of the studies explored the ability of its recovery tracking technology to improve gait speed. It was conducted by a consortium of medical centers based around Montreal. He shared a significant finding from one of the studies.

“There’s a lot of evidence to show that gait speed corresponds to mortality,” he said. “The group that used Jintronix platform showed increased gait speed, which is exciting for assisted living providers, longterm care and bundled payment programs.”

Evin said the studies of the Canadian company’s technology will be published next year.

He also noted that Jintronix launched a dashboard this Fall that aggregates patient data automatically transmitted from its recovery platform. It’s essential for providers to have that data so they can quantify patients’ progress and continue reimbursement for it.

The company’s platform, which got FDA clearance in May last year, uses motion sensing technology, Microsoft Kinect, and takes elements of gaming to provide visual feedback for users to make physical therapy and occupational therapy exercises more interesting for patients. Among the areas it targets are patients recovering from stroke, hip replacement, hip fractures and knee replacement. It also helps track patients with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

Earlier this year, the company mentioned it planned to raise up to $5 million but it since scaled that back in favor of a small round to support sales and marketing. “We have a tiny business development team of two and have 10 employees and with that we have we have [amassed] 70 customers,” Evin said. “It’s clear to see that sales for us is not that hard, but if we add a bit more muscle the opportunity is enormous.”

The Canadian company also has a U.S. office in Seattle.

“The whole idea with our system is it gamifies your experience and tracks objective outcome measures all at the same time. Users are having fun and are motivated while it tracks specific measures that directly correlate to specific functions such as balance,  precision of motion, and range of motion.”

The majority of its 70 customers split across hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation centers are based in the U.S. They pay a monthly subscription fee and provide feedback to help it tweak its platform.

Although the risk of readmission is a powerful motivator, the pressure to lower healthcare costs is a major selling point for its technology. Hospitals are pushed to discharge patients sooner but they have to make sure patients are safe enough and they’re doing that by expanding their reach to patients at home.

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