patientMpower/Sixty consortium

Title

Haemodialysis Outcomes & Patient Empowerment (HOPE), an AI enabled software medical device and wearable device that will empower kidney dialysis patients to self- manage and provide clinicians with insights to improve care

Engagement type

Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund

Partner

patientMpower is a digital healthcare company providing virtual care solutions for people living with chronic illnesses. Sixty is developing a wearable device to measure hydration and heart rate through the principle of optical spectrometry.

Challenge

Dialysis is associated with poor outcomes for patients and is a considerable financial burden for the healthcare system, costing the HSE approximately €142 million every year. Current practices in administering dialysis are key underlying drivers of this situation. The HOPE project aims to replace the current subjective, trial-and-error system for monitoring and managing dialysis patients outside the clinic with patientMpower’s objective machine learning algorithm and patient-centred suite of apps and software. By combining this artificial intelligence platform with Sixty’s wearable hydration monitor technology, patients will be able to administer dialysis at home while being continuously monitored by healthcare professionals, who could intervene when necessary.

RCSI value-added

The RCSI/industry consortium on the HOPE DTIF Project comprised two Irish SMEs (patientMpower and Sixty) and RCSI clinicians from the Kidney Centre at Beaumont Hospital. RCSI led the consortium and provided grant application and post-award support. RCSI clinicians at Beaumont Hospital Kidney Centre provided deep domain expertise in the management of patients with chronic kidney disease that was critical to the development and clinical validation of the digital platform and wearable device.

“RCSI played a key role in building the DTIF consortium and through providing access to the clinical centres of excellence at Beaumont Hospital, they have helped to accelerate the path to market for our technology.”

– Eamonn Costello, CEO, patientMpower