This local startup is blazing a new trail in the healthcare industry

myHealth Sentinel offers simple-to-use telehealth subscription service, much like cable tv or mobile phone service.

Due to Singapore’s rapidly ageing population and fast-food urban lifestyle, new solutions are urgently needed to manage the relentless rise in chronic illnesses and the consequent demand for affordable healthcare services in Singapore. The shortage of medically trained manpower imposes serious constraints on the ability of Singapore’s national healthcare system, to meet this surging demand.

myHealth Sentinel Pte Ltd (mHS) was founded in Q1 2011 by William Chew and backed by a group of othe IT investors to answer the call of the Singapore government, for the development of a vibrant, private-sector, local health-IT industry to create solutions to help meet this healthcare challenge.

[mHS]- myHealth Sentinel (mHS) bills itself as Singapore’s first commercial provider of ‘cloud-based’, fully managed ‘Telehealth’ Services. “Our corporate mission is to enhance the delivery of primary healthcare across the region, as well as to deliver compelling consumer and corporate wellness services to encourage healthier lifestyles,” said Chew.

[mHS]- myHealth Sentinel integrates and re-packages multiple technologies and applications and bringing it to market in the form of a simple-to-use telehealth subscription service, much like cable tv or mobile phone service.

“Our unique innovation is the development and commercial launch of a ‘cloud-based’ telehealth service designated “TeleMetrix+” (TM+) which is available to medical care providers (hospitals, GP’s, nursing homes), based on a simple and cost effective subscription basis. This eliminates the technological complexity, operational overhead and risk which have historically been significant barriers to mainstream telehealth adoption,” noted Chew.

“Furthermore, our ‘telehealth utility’ business model, allows mHS to offer a cost effective and sustainable way to meet the healthcare needs of the growing ranks of the elderly chronic disease sufferers in our community,” he added.

How do they work?

Individually selected patients are issued with wireless biometric monitoring devices for use in their own homes, by their physician/care provider(s). The range of vital signs that can be remotely monitored using TM+ includes: blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, temperature and blood oxygen. All devices are medically certified and designed for simple ‘plug-and-play’ usage.

Patient readings are automatically uploaded to the TM+ application via a home broadband wireless connection, analyzed and compared against pre-defined thresholds. ‘Abnormal’ conditions detected by TM+ will generate ‘alerts’ (via SMS, email) that can be pre-configured to be sent to any combination of caregivers (physician/case worker, patient, family, GP) for attention/action. Once the alert has been identified as genuine by the relevant healthcare staff, regular follow-up can then ensue based on care provider’s instructions

“[mHS]- Our ‘cloud-based’, infrastructure eliminates the technological complexity for users as well as the operational overhead and risk associated with dedicated, in-house systems, which are significant barriers to mainstream telehealth adoption. Furthermore, our ‘telehealth utility’ business model, allows mHS to offer a cost effective and sustainable way to meet the healthcare needs of the growing ranks of the elderly chronic disease,” said Chew.

Chew added that another differentiator is that TM+ has been designed to be ‘device-vendor neutral’. “mHS does not design or make any of the biometric monitoring devices. Instead, we source for the ‘best-of-breed’ wireless biometric and health lifestyle devices from around the world. This allows us to leverage on the explosive rate of innovation by the thousands of health device companies around the globe, rather than compete with them. Thus we can focus our resources on integrating these devices and adding value to the data generated.”

Just as important as the technology, Chew said that the team have designed TM+ to retain the ‘human touch’. Trained health ‘relationship managers’ are available to help familiarize subscribers (and their family members) in their use of our service and to encourage them in the attainment of their health objectives.

The company was founded on March 2011 while the flag product ‘TeleMetrix+’ was launched on January 2012. Five months later, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with signing of NTUC Eldercare to deploy TM+ to provide pro-bono health screening services in their Senior Activity Centres. Info-comm Development Authority short-listed TM+ for deployment to major public hospitals in November. This month, the company just had a successful second round share placement, bringing total paid-up capital to SGD2.6M .

Future plans and offerings
“[mHS] – In the area of chronic care, we will be expanding the range of TM+ devices to include ECG for cardiac monitoring and possibly spirometers for those suffering from pulmonary diseases. In the areas of “Consumer and “Corporate Wellness” we are actively working with non-medical channel partners to develop and launch new services in 2013, which will be based on customized versions of our TM+ service. We will also be adding an exciting new “Medical Device Integration” solution to our portfolio, which will help hospitals to streamline their workflow and improve patient care,” said Chew.

[mHS]- Telehealth is just in its infancy but Chew said that the team is convinced that the upside growth potential is enormous. “Unstoppable global demographic (ageing) trends and rising standards of living, combined with the shortage of doctors, nurses, hospital beds and over-stressed government budgets, guarantee that telehealth will become a mainstream form of chronic and primary healthcare,” he said.