Integra Community Care Network Partners with Biofourmis to Deliver Personalized Care at Home

Care New England to continuously monitor patients across a variety of conditions with Biofourmis’ proven technology, offering predictive insight to Integra clinicians

Biofourmis, a Boston-based global leader in digital therapeutics and virtual care that powers personalized predictive care, announced a partnership with Integra Community Care Network, Care New England’s accountable care organization (ACO). Integra, one of the largest ACOs in New England, will deliver hospital at home care and remote patient monitoring through Biofourmis’ end-to-end solution.

Integra is a community of doctors, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, community health workers and patients working together to improve the health and well-being of their community. As Care New England Health System’s ACO, Integra has 150,000 members covered by Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial plans.

Integra is partnering with Biofourmis for remote monitoring in the home for members of its complex care management program, as well as a home hospital program that will “admit” acute patients to their homes instead of a medical facility for inpatient-level care.

Patients will be continuously monitored with a wearable biosensor. The physiological biomarkers and patient-reported data are analyzed by the FDA-cleared Biovitals Analytics Engine, to predict clinical deterioration by detecting subtle physiological changes from each patient’s personalized baseline. Machine-learning capabilities notify clinicians toward opportunities to optimize treatment, predict decompensation, better engage patients, and ultimately identify and prevent serious medical events before they occur.

“We evaluated several potential partners and ultimately selected Biofourmis due to their Biovitals platform that has the ability to monitor patients around the clock and to deliver meaningful alerts to our clinicians, as well as the flexibility and scalability of the platform,” said John Minichiello, MBA, president of Integra. “Biofourmis will help our physicians, nurses and other clinicians deliver the highest quality acute and post-acute care to our patients, who will remain safely and comfortably in their homes.”

Each patient’s virtual care will be complemented by home visits from physicians, advanced practice providers and paramedics. Meanwhile, patients with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma and others, will be monitored remotely after being released from the hospital with a technology solution customized for each condition.

“From a clinical and cost standpoint, safely keeping patients out of the hospital is certainly one of our goals as a risk-bearing ACO, but it is also a goal for patients who would prefer to remain at home as much as possible,” said Ana Tuya Fulton, MD, MBA, chief medical officer at Integra Community Care and executive chief of Geriatrics & Palliative Care at Care New England. “Biofourmis’ real-time, continuous monitoring capabilities will enable Integra and our patients to achieve these goals. Whether it is inpatient-level care provided in the home or monitoring at home following hospital discharge, clinicians can conduct data-driven assessments and intervene before an emergency department visit or rehospitalization is required—which reduces costs and improves patient outcomes.”

Biofourmis Hospital@Home will enable the Care New England Health System to take advantage of the new CMS Acute Hospital Care at Home program announced last year that provides 1:1 reimbursement parity for hospitals that admit patients to their home instead of the hospital.

“This is an invaluable opportunity for patients who are at their most vulnerable to receive high-quality care in the comfort of their own homes, while having peace of mind that clinicians will be able to carefully remotely monitor their conditions, keeping them safe and healthy at all times,” said James E. Fanale, MD, President and CEO, Care New England Health System. “This partnership will also help keep patients out of emergency departments, where they may have to wait to be seen, causing them unnecessary frustration and money, as well as help them avoid hospital readmission.”

Robert J. Haffey, President and COO of Kent Hospital, part of the Care New England Health System, said: “At Kent Hospital we are always striving to make treatment and care easier and more comfortable for our patients, and this partnership is key to achieving this goal. Remote patient monitoring provides patients with inpatient care within the privacy and comfort of their homes, which is revolutionary, and I couldn’t be happier that we’ll be able to offer this service to those who seek our care.”

Kuldeep Singh Rajput, founder and CEO of Biofourmis, explained how this enagement is part of a bigger trend nationwide. “Larger integrated provider organizations are realizing the benefits of implementing advanced AI-powered technology to safely and effectively monitor patients outside their four walls and support clinicians’ decisions to improve clinical and economic outcomes and operational efficiencies,” he said. “Integra is one of the innovative organizations leading the virtualization of care, and it is exciting to partner with them on this initiative.”