Cystic Fibrosis Remote Monitoring System to Support Resource-Limited Communities

Abstract Twenty percent of the U Spopulation resides in rural communitiesIn rural areasresidents need to travel greater distances to access specialty services of the healthcare systemTypicallyhealthcare facilities in these rural areas are small and provide limited servicesOftendue to geographic distanceextreme weather conditionsenvironmental and climatic barrierslack of public transportationand challenging roadsrural residents may be limited or prohibited from accessing specialty health care servicesIn this phase II proposalKoronis Biomedical TechnologiesKBTproposes a system to overcome some of these barriers by monitoring cystic fibrosisCFpatients at homeCurrentlythe standard of care for reoccurring CF respiratory exacerbations includes coming to a specialized CF clinic or the hospital for pulmonary function evaluation when symptoms occurPulmonary function tests help clinicians know when lung function has declinedHoweverclinicians currently do not monitor lung function at homenor do clinicians have any insight on therapy adherenceThere are currentlyCF centers in the U Saccredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with only five in the entire states of MinnesotaNorth South DakotaMontanaand WyomingIn many casespatients travel a long distance to reach these specialized CF centersThe proposed system creates an innovative home system that connects patients in rural areas with clinicians and provides a feedback loop between therapy and diagnostic monitoringThe phase II proposal will develop a web application that will allow secure remote access to pulmonary function data and therapy adherenceThis system will provide a means of early detection of pulmonary exacerbation and reducing the number of costly and stressful hospitalizations and clinic visits