Summary
- ImpediMed Limited (ASX:IPD) has announced the first order for its SOZO® Digital Health Platform.
- Phoenix Healthcare Network has initially purchased five SOZO®® units, with implementation likely to commence in early FY21.
- SOZO® Digital Health Platform will be used in the management of heart failure patients and could be at the center of Phoenix Healthcare Network’s patient monitoring.
- SOZO®’s HF-Dex™ assessment delivers real-time information about the fluid status that can help clinicians manage medication levels and avert readmission.
Medical technology company ImpediMed Limited (ASX:IPD) has secured a great opportunity to demonstrate the clinical utility of its SOZO® Digital Health Platform. The Company has announced the first order for SOZO® to be used in the management of heart failure patients by Phoenix Healthcare Network.
The significant update had a positive impact on the Company’s shares on the ASX. ImpediMed (ASX:IPD) shares traded up by 14.28 per cent mid-day to $ 0.12 on 18 November 2020.
Read about ImpediMed’s recent partnership update with NSW Health HERE
SOZO®’s First Commercial Heart Failure Sales
Phoenix Healthcare Network has initially purchased five SOZO® units. The implementation is expected to begin in early FY21. The SOZO® Digital Health Platform will be used in the management of heart failure patients.
Tom Jordan, CEO of Phoenix Healthcare Network, opines that SOZO® will be at the center of the Network’s patient monitoring, especially at a time when it is expanding its program to include cardiac rehabilitation.
Several patients come to Phoenix Healthcare Network facilities after being discharged from the hospital for heart failure. The deal with ImpediMed is a welcome initiative as SOZO®’s HF-Dex™ assessment offers real-time information about fluid status that the Network’s clinicians can use to help manage medication levels to avoid readmission.
Read about ImpediMed’s Second Contract With AstraZeneca HERE
Acquainting with Phoenix Healthcare Network
The Phoenix Healthcare Network operates cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation units within nursing homes as well as long-term care facilities. It comprises of more than 80 independent companies. It offers products and consultation services to skilled nursing facilities in the US and Canada.
The Network provides these companies with-
- Access to innovative, advanced, “game changing” products.
- Consultation services within the companies’ scope of practice with a focus on cardio-pulmonary rehabilitation, remote monitoring, pharmacy, and training.
Phoenix Healthcare Network has a long and proven history of reducing hospital readmissions while improving quality of care for patients with respiratory illnesses.
Significant Market Opportunity
ImpediMed states that there are more than 15,500 skilled nursing facilities in the US that offer longer-term care to patients who require assistance with the activities of daily life. Close to 25 per cent of first-time US Medicare heart failure hospital patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities, up from merely 5 per cent thirty years ago.
The above trends are being driven with the objective of-
- Reducing hospital readmissions.
- Combatting chronic heart failure post-acute care costs which can comprise up to 70 per cent of the total cost of care.
SOZO® Fluid Analysis for Heart Failure
The SOZO® fluid analysis for heart failure is an innovative tool for evaluating fluid overload in heart failure patients. It uses the Company’s HF-Dex™ heart failure index - a measure of extracellular fluid as a per cent of total body water.
HF-Dex™ is presented on reference ranges consequent from an examination of heart failure patients from the Company’s heart failure home study and research (performed on healthy subjects). The heart failure home study is an observational study that tracks recently hospitalised heart failure patients with daily SOZO® tests at home.
The analysis yielded BIS-derived reference ranges for normal fluid volumes, high fluid volumes, as well as fluid overload, defined as HF-Dex™ over 51 per cent. Data from the study and individual patient case reports depict the benefits of SOZO® in heart failure patients- differentiating between fluid and tissue-related weight changes, tracking response to medication changes, a marker for readmission when HF-Dex™ is higher than 51 per cent.
Way Forward
ImpediMed aims to obtain real-world evidence and demonstrate that SOZO® can track patient fluid’s levels and established normative range data can be useful in risk stratifying patients. The Company may work towards a more effective diuretic intervention and administration and demostrate a reduction in readmissions resulting from patients released with a reduced fluid burden.
Besides, gaining FDA Clearance to remove implantable cardiac device contraindications is a key next step in ImpediMed’s heart failure space. It may also work towards a potential larger clinical study to establish home testing model predicated on a significant reduction in 30-day readmission rates.
