eCaring and Pace University Selected as Winners of PILOT Health Tech NY Innovation Program

NEW YORK, NY — June 27, 2013 — eCaring, a comprehensive in-home health care management system, and Pace University yesterday were selected as a winner of PILOT Health Tech NY, a new program designed to dramatically increase innovation and collaboration within New York City’s health technology sector. The program, a partnership between New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Health 2.0, will partner innovative companies in health technology with key New York City healthcare service organizations to pilot and advance new technologies.

The joint pilot project between eCaring and Pace University will use eCaring’s unique real time web-based care management and monitoring system with a high need population of chronically ill, multicultural older adults in Henry Street Settlement’s Vladeck Cares Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC). Patients and their caregivers will be randomly selected to receive eCaring for 6 months. Graduate nursing students at Pace University will track data to assess the effect of eCaring on the use of health care resources, disease management, preventable events, and health care costs.

“We are experiencing a rapidly growing population of older adults in New York City, many of whom share major health challenges,” said Harriet R. Feldman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dean and Professor at Pace University College of Health Professions. “This technology can be especially helpful to those who are homebound without many resources, and those with chronic illnesses. The Lienhard School of Nursing in the College of Health Professions was an earlier adopter of technology in all aspects of education. Partnering with Pace’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems was a natural fit. This project adds another dimension to the educational experiences of our nursing students and graduates.”.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for students from Pace University’s College of Health Professions and the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems to join with the innovators at eCaring to improve quality of life for older New Yorkers,” says Lin Drury, PhD, RN, and Associate Professor at Pace University’s Lienhard School of Nursing. “Organizations caring for older adults are facing shrinking budgets and expanding caseloads.  eCaring provides critical data about each client and facilitates monitoring the organization’s caseload cost effectively.  The service will help Henry Street’s clients remain in their homes and will offer caregivers peace of mind.”

The results of the competition were publicly announced yesterday at the inaugural “Pilot Day” held at Blueprint Health in Manhattan.

“The eCaring platform is the missing link in care management. eCaring’s intuitive, easy to use system for the first time generates comprehensive digital health care information from the home, allowing hospitals, health care providers and families to track and respond to critical behavioral, clinical and medication adherence patient data in real time,” says Robert Herzog, CEO and founder of eCaring. “Using eCaring has been proven to reduce emergency room and hospital use as well as doctor and nurse visits, generating substantial savings while improving outcomes and enhancing patients’ quality of life.”

PILOT Health Tech NYC is an important piece of the City’s ongoing efforts to leverage recent momentum and position New York City as the nation’s hub for healthcare technology. NYCEDC and Health 2.0 worked with leading health organizations StartUp Health and Blueprint Health on the program, which – in addition to grants of up to $100,000 – will provide winners with pilot planning and implementation support services, informational workshops, access to the NYeC’s SHIN-NY API and promotion at major health events and conferences.

“The healthcare technology sector in New York City is already booming, but it is important to continue to innovate in order to further position ourselves as a hub for transformational projects,” said NYCEDC Executive Director Kyle Kimball.  “PILOT Health Tech NYC provides early-stage companies with the opportunity to make major breakthroughs in the life sciences and healthcare technology sectors, helping to fight diseases while also creating a stronger business economy.”

About eCaring

eCaring is a privately held, New York-based technology company that uniquely integrates behavioral, clinical and medication adherence data to provide a real-time, round-the-clock home health care management and monitoring system for seniors and people with chronic conditions. Its unique web-based platform allows hospitals, family caregivers and care providers to spot changes in a patient’s normal patterns, receive alerts when intervention is required to keep small problems in the home from becoming big ones in the hospital, and improve information sharing among all health care providers. www.ecaring.com

About Pace University

Since 1906, Pace has educated thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area.  A private university, Pace has campuses in Lower Manhattan and Westchester County, NY, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health Professions, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.  The Gerontechnology Research Team at Pace university is lead by a multidisciplinary group of professors including the co-principal investigators on this pilot:  Lin Drury, PhD, RN and Sharon Wexler, PhD, RN with the College of Health Professions; Jean Coppola, PhD with the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.  Together, they combine computer science and information technology with public health and geriatric nursing expertise along with students who learn through working with senior care facilities in New York City such as the Henry Street Settlement.  The College of Health Professions has been affiliated with Henry Street Settlement since the early 1990’s and Pace’s Gerontechnology team has been providing computer support there since 2010.