Twenty-first century healthcare takes a team effort, especially when it comes to managing chronic conditions such as hypertension, congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma. IDEAL LIFE has developed the first easy and affordable solution that makes remote health management a reality and empowers individuals to take more active and informed roles in their own health and well-being.
When IDEAL LIFE first started out in 2002, existing systems for remote health management were prohibitively expensive, and so cumbersome and complicated that specially trained technicians were required just to set them up. Utilizing the system on a day-to-day basis presented an equally daunting challenge. In the end, they were simply too unaffordable and impractical for the millions of people who might have benefited from them.
IDEAL LIFE’s founder and President, Jason Goldberg, had a vision for something better – a vision born largely out of frustrated concern for his elderly relatives, some of whom were in declining health and living thousands of miles away from his home in Toronto. Jason and his worried family members had no way to keep a watchful eye on their loved ones or to help them manage their various chronic conditions.
Together with his father, Harvey Goldberg, a consumer product and marketing expert (and former principle force behind the hugely successful Creepy Crawlers™ and Teddy Ruxpin™ toys of the ‘80s and ‘90s), Jason began a systematic exploration of the healthcare marketplace. Putting his university degree in anthropology and his background in software product development to good use, he devoted two years to extensive field research, conducting interviews with consumers, medical professionals, engineers, and healthcare executives. He attended conferences and technology shows, honing his ideas for new products and services that could fulfill the promise of remote health management.
Jason’s research revealed that an estimated 133 million Americans are currently living with one or more chronic conditions – a figure that is only expected to grow as the baby boomer generation ages. Not surprisingly, he found countless people experiencing similar frustrations with monitoring and managing their own complex medical needs or those of their loved ones.
“That’s why we started this company," Jason recounts. "We looked for a solution but it didn’t exist. So we listened to what people were asking for, came up with a practical and affordable solution, and then built that system from the ground up."
Along the way, Jason assembled a group of experts in diverse areas of modern medicine and technology who agreed to help with product development and fulfill the company’s vision.
“The mission behind IDEAL LIFE really seemed to strike a chord," Jason says. "The team was passionate about the potential of healthcare information technology, and excited to be a part of the health IT ‘revolution.’"
One charter member of IDEAL LIFE’s advisory panel is Dr. Ron Pion, a clinical professor at UCLA’s medical school and founder of the Hospital Satellite Network. Dr. Pion soon became a staunch advocate of the IDEAL LIFE system. He even has an IDEAL LIFE BP Manager™ for his own personal use, to monitor his high blood pressure.
“The whole healthcare system needs to be turned upside down so that the patient is the most important part of the system," Dr. Pion asserts. “IDEAL LIFE is part of the solution and part of that patient-centered shift. These products can monitor patients wherever they are – at home or on the road."
Another notable physician who worked to develop medical protocols for IDEAL LIFE’s products is internationally renowned diabetes expert Dr. Jay Skyler, an Associate Director at the Diabetes Research Institute.
The common denominator behind every product in IDEAL LIFE’s pipeline was the company’s commitment to develop consumer-inspired solutions that would seamlessly integrate with a person’s natural daily routines.
“Whatever we came up with, it had to be easy to use, easy to implement, and as inexpensive as possible," Jason explains. “To be affordable, we had to find a way to efficiently mass produce each product. That was a critical factor to consider during every phase of the design and production process."
The result: A Bluetooth-enabled, fully automated and wireless communication platform, designed in a modular fashion to allow for easy integration with a wide spectrum of products. The core technology makes it possible for users to securely capture, store, and share important health information with any mode of communication – including cell phones, telephone lines, and the Internet - anytime, anywhere.
IDEAL LIFE’s initial product prototypes rolled out in rapid succession:
In early 2005, IDEAL LIFE began its first clinical trial with hypertensive patients at the CareMore Medical Group in California. The results of this clinical study were successful enough to extend the program beyond its original end date. In the words of CareMore founder and former CEO, Dr. Sheldon Zinberg:
“The most important thing is to be able to monitor people with chronic diseases, whether it is diabetes, COPD, or congestive heart failure, and to do it in a cost effective way. IDEAL LIFE accomplishes this by having patient’s information electronically transferred on a daily basis - sometimes multiple times a day. Using this system, we found that half of our hypertensive patients were either taking too much or too little of their prescribed medication, or sometimes even the wrong medication. With IDEAL LIFE monitoring, we were able to adjust patients’ medication for dramatically improved blood pressure control."
The IDEAL LIFE remote health management system proved to successfully optimize at-home treatment and management, and reduced blood pressure for 63% of the study’s hypertensive participants.
Another successful pilot– this time tracking patients with congestive heart failure– also resulted in improved clinical outcomes. The IDEAL LIFE CHF Program was shown to successfully decrease hospital re-admissions, optimize at-home treatment, and reduce hospital admission rates by 57% for individuals with CHF.
Brian Farber, Director of the Telehealth Program for Bayada Nurses Home Care Specialists, one of the largest home healthcare providers in the U.S., also worked with IDEAL LIFE on a pilot program with CHF patients. The Bayada pilot program was so successful that the company was able to reduce hospitalizations between 40-60%.
“The beauty of remote monitoring is that you’re able to contact patients when their symptoms are exacerbated or they’re not feeling well," Farber explains. “That is when they are most open and responsive to education."
Today, IDEAL LIFE continues to be a healthcare visionary and a driving force behind the development of easy, affordable solutions for remote health management. It is in use at health plans, medical groups, home health agencies, and academic medical centers.
“The founders of IDEAL LIFE come from a consumer market background. They’ve developed a system that isn’t outrageously expensive and is accessible to everyone," says Joy Harris, Director of Telemedicine at UCLA Medical Center. “Jason and Harvey are real people. They have their fingers on the pulse of what’s going on out there and they can relate to people. They can think outside the box."
An example of this out-of-the-box thinking is IDEAL LIFE’s “chair scale." The product is based on a suggestion put forth by Dr. James Howatt, Chief Medical Officer for Molina, one of the nation’s most experienced managed healthcare companies.
“One of the problems with monitoring the weight of CHF patients is that many of them of large enough or frail enough to make standing on a traditional scale inaccurate," Dr. Howatt explains. “The only alternative was a huge thing the size of a phone booth, with handrails and all that, and even that wasn’t consistently accurate. I asked several companies to build us an easy-to-use chair scale, and IDEAL LIFE was the first one that would listen. They’re amazing. Within a very short time they had gone out and built it."
IDEAL LIFE’s scheduled rollout for 2009-2010 includes new devices* for managing various cardiac, and pulmonary, and weight-related conditions:
- IDEAL LIFE Sp02-Manger™ (pulse oximeter)
- IDEAL LIFE Breath-Manager™ (peak flow meter)
- IDEAL LIFE Step-Manager™ (pedometer)
- IDEAL LIFE Body-Manager Plus™ (chair scale)
IDEAL LIFE products are currently available through select insurers, physician groups, and home care agencies. The company expects to have its products and services available online to consumers in 2009 and in retail outlets by 2010.
* Patented, with patents pending