Los Angeles, CA, February 24, 2003 — Contacts:
Mark Mostow
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Silverado Senior Living
949-240-7200
WORLD’S FIRST REMOTE PRESENCE ROBOT USED BY
HEALTHCARE EXPERTS IN ELDER CARE BEGINS CLINICAL TESTING
InTouch Health and Silverado Senior Living collaborate to evaluate the 'Companion’for improving the quality of care delivered to seniors in long term care communities
Los Angeles, CA, February 24, 2003 – InTouch Health, Inc., the leader in remote presence technology for healthcare providers, and Silverado Senior Living, the leading specialty Alzheimer’s care provider, announced today a collaborative effort to evaluate a revolutionary new system – a robot called the “Companion”. When used in a long term care community, the Companion enables remote healthcare experts to “virtually” consult with caregivers, residents and family members at the point of care, whenever they’re needed – forever changing the level of expertise available in long term care. With the Companion, an expert can move, see, hear and talk in another location as though they were actually there.
Unlike Silverado, the majority of long term care communities are not large enough to maintain a full-time staff of physicians and clinical specialists. Therefore the Companion multiplies the impact of healthcare professionals by instantly bringing their expertise into the communities. This capability for experts to be virtually present at any facility on a moment's notice re-writes the economics and potential for quality of care. The Companion is like quadrupling the presence of experts while simultaneously lowering healthcare costs.
Moreover, the Companion can instantly and simply bring very specific areas of staff training, coaching, consulting and monitoring into multiple care facilities, which offers improved management of the most challenging care issues for staff, residents and their families.
The Companion, developed by InTouch Health, is currently undergoing testing at Silverado Senior Living’s specialty Alzheimer’s community in Calabasas, CA. Silverado’s corporate healthcare experts, based approximately 80 miles south in San Juan Capistrano, CA, are conducting tests with the Companion to evaluate the feasibility of using the robot to provide remote training, coaching, and quality assurance into the Calabasas community – and ultimately to their other specialty Alzheimer’s communities across California, Utah and Texas. Two other participants, Dan Osterweil, M.D., medical director for Silverado’s Calabasas community and a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a family member of one of the residents will also have access to the Companion as part of the evaluation.
Early feasibility tests of the Companion were conducted at and continue with the Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara (RISB). RISB’s professional physical, occupational, speech and recreation therapists are conducting tests to assess the feasibility of using the Companion in remote rehabilitation treatments.
Yulun Wang, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of InTouch Health said, “Our nation, and the world for that matter, have entered a demographic crisis in healthcare – the first wave of baby-boomers have reached retirement age while the chronic shortage of healthcare professionals grows at an alarming rate. Through the Companion we can leverage the already scarce healthcare resources, magnify the impact of these individuals, and improve the effectiveness of existing frontline staff, all at a reduced cost to the healthcare system.”
Loren B. Shook, president & CEO of Silverado Senior Living said, “As the leading provider of long term specialty Alzheimer’s care services, we have long recognized that the quality of our care services is a function of a well trained and supported staff. At Silverado Senior Living we’re committed to providing a best-of-class training program for our caregivers as demonstrated by the 2002 award we received for our training program from the California Assisted Living Association. The InTouch Health solution allows us to further improve the level of training and support we can provide to our communities. Through the Companion we can respond immediately bringing healthcare experts to resident care issues or family concerns, and we can provide more frequent staff support and training. We’re very pleased to be the world’s first long term care provider to assess this new and innovative technology for improving the quality of care delivered to seniors.”
Stephen F. Winner, vice president and chief of culture for Silverado Senior Living, and a nationally recognized authority in long term Alzheimer’s care services added, “Our corporate team of experts has been conducting tests of the robot’s capabilities for more than a month now. From the very first day, when our vice president of clinical services was able to help the Calabasas team assess a challenging case, we have been identifying great applications for this technology which adds real value to our communities.”
There is a demographic crisis in healthcare. Over the next 10 years the number of elderly age 85 and over will grow 38%. The number of seniors requiring healthcare support will double. Already today there are over 400,000 unfilled nursing positions causing healthcare providers across the country to close wings or risk negative outcomes. Over the coming years, the
declining ratio of working age adults to elderly will further exacerbate the shortage. In 1950 there were 8 adults available to support each elder 65+, today the ratio is 5:1 and by 2020 the ratio will drop to 3 working age adults per elder person. Technology solutions which dramatically increase the effectiveness of healthcare professionals are required.
InTouch Health is addressing this challenge by pioneering the use of Remote Presence in healthcare. Through a proprietary communications and mobile robotic platform, caregivers can be projected to another location where a patient or caregiver is located to provide care, coach and train staff, or monitor healthcare services. The InTouch Health solution leverages the time and expertise of healthcare professionals across many care facilities improving the efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery.
