4HM wins Home Health Innovations Award at CES 2008 for its
ground-breaking independent living solution for broadband service
providers
LAS VEGAS--(Business Wire)--4HM unveiled its home health solution, a for-fee monthly service
enabling independent living (IL) for seniors via remote monitoring
from their care-givers. This innovative solution consists of
ControlPoint(TM) software running in a Home HealthPoint gateway with
various sensors in the home and a multi-party portal user-interface
(UI) generated from the backend hosted Portal Server. By creating a
passive monitoring network around a senior in their normal home
setting, both family members and professional care-givers can log into
a personalized Web page and get historical trend data, real-time
status updates, and proactive alerts about the health and well-being
for that monitored elder. The Portal Server delivers three unique and
customized user-experiences based on the same data generated within
the home-- for the senior in their house, for the family member
caregiver remotely, and for a medical or nursing facility remotely.
"An estimate 16 million seniors in the US could benefit from home
health monitoring technology by 2012 and this addressable market will
expand even faster beyond that point due to an aging baby boomer
population," said Harry Wang, Senior Analyst of digital health
research at Dallas-based digital home technology consultancy Parks
Associates, "the market calls for innovative applications and service
models to raise user awareness and drive adoption."
The recommended starter kit for the IL service includes the Home
HealthPoint, three motion detectors, and an emergency pendant. The
motion detectors are strategically placed around the home during the
professional installation in the bedroom, at the entrance to the
primary bathroom, and in the main trafficked area such as a foyer or
living room. Additional sensor devices such as additional motion
detectors, access contacts on the refrigerator or doors, a smart
pillbox, or IP cameras can be utilized to supplement the monitoring
data sets being produced within the home. Safety, comfort, and energy
saving devices for the senior can be added such as a networked
thermostat, safety lighting in or outside the home, appliance and
lighting control accessories, gas leak detectors, air quality & fire
detectors, or an IP-based intercom system. 4HM, a member of the
Continua Alliance, is a strong advocate of open standards in medical
devices and its ControlPoint in-home software is able to support a
wide variety of medical diagnostic devices to further supplement the
health and well-being information for the senior, including a digital
weight scale, a blood-pressure cuff, a glucose meter, or a pulse
oximeter, depending on the needs of that particular monitored senior.
Lastly, to battle psychological duress and the frequent isolation of a
senior living alone-- a common difficulty among the elder population
that has proven negative health repercussions--4HM has integrated into
the solution set friends-and-family photo sharing, interactive health
surveys, and health and wellness video education.
"4HM, a sponsor and contributor to the Red Cross for the last two
years, has a track-record in health services and is building a
powerful coalition in the home health ecosystem, including broadband
service providers looking to offer an IL or home health service,
sensor and device manufacturers, professional medical and nursing
entities, and Taiwanese-based Accton, ODM manufacturer of the Home
HealthPoint 1500, a hardware reference design available for
white-label introduction by hardware vendors or service providers,"
said Nate Williams, VP of Strategic Marketing & Business Development
for 4HM.
The 4HM-powered IL service will be available in the second half of
2008 through select broadband service providers, both in North America
and internationally. While pricing is subject to a variety of factors,
the monthly service will range from $30/month to $100/month, a bargain
in comparison to the on average $72,000 annual fee for transitioning a
senior into an assisted living facility, or the $40,000 to $70,000
annually for in-home nursing.
About 4HM, Inc.
4HomeMedia (4HM) is the leading provider of "home control
services" which include home monitoring, media and entertainment
management, home health, and energy management. With the sudden
commoditization of the "triple play," 4HomeMedia's solution is in
high-demand. 4HomeMedia's ControlPoint(TM) and Portal Server software
products allow hardware vendors and service providers to create and
deploy compelling, easy-to-use, and profitable new applications and
services for the connected home. A single copy of the networked
ControlPoint software installed anywhere on the home network provides
whole home coverage -- from anywhere and at anytime. Portal Server is
a robust broadband application server for the NOC providing scalable
and manageable home control services for a broad, mass-market rollout.
4HomeMedia, Inc. is based in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information on
4HomeMedia and its award-winning solutions, please visit
http://www.4HomeMedia.com.
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*T
4HomeMedia, Inc.
1235 Midas Way
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
Phone: +1 (408) 469 4222
Fax: +1 (408) 469-4229
info@4homemedia.com
www.4HomeMedia.com
*T
4HomeMedia, Inc.
Nate Williams, +1 408-469-4222
nwilliams@4HomeMedia.com
or
Bespoken Communications
Jonathan Lai, +1 415-218-4209
jlai@bespokencomm.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
