Analyst: Curb your enthusiasm over GE-QuietCare

By: Brian Dolan | Dec 5, 2009        

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Earlier this week we reported that GE Healthcare had acquired remote monitoring company Living Independently Group for an undisclosed sum. LIG’s key product is still in development: QuietCare, an infrared sensor system that monitors seniors activity throughout the day and sends alerts to caregivers if seniors appear to need assistance.

Aging in Place Technology Watch editor and analyst Laurie Orlov wrote in with some comments and analysis of the deal:

I don’t think this has much significance in the near term and I suspect little money was spent on this compared to the sizable sum that over the years was spent to market LIG’s offering, first to consumers then to senior housing organizations after that failed. And while QuietCare is certainly used in some independent living facilities, there are a number of issues associated with it and in general with the category, which in my view is a very early market, requiring much improvement that perhaps GE will eventually fund:

a) First of all, unless there is pattern analysis reporting about behavioral change over time, which to my knowledge QuietCare doesn’t have, the product is little more than an alert mechanism on motion or absence of motion in a room. That puts it into the same questionable category as traditional PERS devices like Lifeline, for example. False positives for various reasons (vacation? a cat? what about roommates?). It provides someone a false sense of reassurance, when a frail elderly person still can slide out of a wheelchair or the bed onto the floor in the middle of the night and QuietCare (or Lifeline) are both useless.

b) It’s great that it can alert for environmental factors like smoke, but an alarm system is more useful — and can even handle break-ins, the most fundamental of technologies for seniors.

c) QuietCare is not integrated with any communications technology — perhaps even a television with the near-defunct WebTV — would be better than nothing for a senior to communicate with family members as well as be monitored for absence of motion.

d) Far more interesting would be a combination of wearable fall detection with environmental sensing — monitoring a person (fall detection like Halo Monitoring and body temperature affected by fear or fever) and monitoring the environment, like HealthSense, QuietCare, or GrandCare.

e) Even more interesting will be the eventual usefulness of tracking capabilities that follow an individual more than 500 feet — like PERS devices — away from the house — like cell phones.

For more analysis on the deal, check out Orlov’s excellent Aging in Place Technology Watch post

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  • http://www.wirelesslifesciences.org/2009/12/analyst-curb-your-enthusiasm-over-ge-quietcare/ Analyst: Curb your enthusiasm over GE-QuietCare | Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance

    [...] See original here: Analyst: Curb your enthusiasm over GE-QuietCare [...]

  • http://Www.GrandCare.com Laura Mitchell

    Very interesting discussion! However, I do think this is a big deal. The fact that GE has shown interest is great for this industry. What QuietCare did for this industry was enormous – perhaps bleeding-edge, the front runners in this industry. They certainly helped to pave the way for all of us.
    We are hopeful that with GE’s power, we can finally gain a little more traction and perhaps some more money and resources can be allocated towards the education of this industry.
    I wish nothing but the best for QC and GE and truly hope that we can work together! After all, the aging tsunami will float all boats!

    Thanks for the post!
    Laura Mitchell
    GrandCare Systems
    http://www.GrandCare.com
    262-338-6147

  • George Boyajian

    As one of the creators of QuietCare, I can assure you that there is significant sophisticated pattern recognition. If you take time to read the LIG website or peruse the literature or speak with a client, or maybe have received a demo, you would know that patterns in wake-up time, bathroom usage, temperature changes, medication handling, nighttime wandering and a host of the factors are measured.

    You might also be interested to know that if one asks an individual to change their behavior, their compliance drops by at least 50%, so your suggestion that wearable fall detectors or even PERS units are effective is somewhat limited. In fact, published studies show that PERS owners only wear their devices 50% of the time and of those that fall, only 50% of them will be able or choose to activate the device. Thus the PERS device has only 25% compliance. QC on the other hand require NO change in an individual’s behavior and thus has nearly 100% compliance.

    Furthermore QC addresses the needs of the market that it is targeting, those that are aging in place in an assisted living facility. The needs of which you write are more for those with memory or dementia issues, not the target client of QC.

  • http://www.ageinplacetech.com/ Laurie Orlov

    I have seen a demo, read the website, etc, saw an actual installation.

    Just to clarify that point about ‘pattern analysis reporting over time’ that I made: Here is a comment placed on my site: http://www.ageinplacetech.com
    from Donna Cusano, previously VP Marketing, LIG:
    “This is tracked on a rolling pattern of approximately two weeks, and data is stored and graphed. It’s built on change of certain patterns that are aggregated and tracked: morning bedroom exit (rules), overall bathroom usage, night bathroom usage (entry/exit), feeding/hydration (based on refrigerator open/close), overall activity, interaction with medications (in one area), temperature (rules again), optional entry/exit of room (rules based motion thru door)and optional night motion (exit from bed, again rules based).”

    Today, therefore, this graphing and reporting must be analyzed by a professional for meaning about the individual being monitored. Next generation of that, it would be great to see system derive meaning from this data that would extend beyond 2-week rolling and incorporate some intelligence about an individual’s gait change, overall change in eating patterns.

    I wonder if for systems like this, that the greatest today may be as a result of training the professionals to analyze the information collected (especially across a large population of residents) to find exceptions to acceptable patterns that are actionable.

  • http://mobihealthnews.com/7489/ge-invests-3m-in-independent-living-center/ GE invests $3M in independent living center | mobihealthnews

    [...] core objective of TRIL also aligns with GE’s recent acquisition of Living Independently Group, which offers the QuietCare service, a passive activity monitoring system used to assist in [...]

  • Michael Cagen

    Senior Lifestyle has installed or will be installing the QuietCare system in all their assisted living properties. Although a vast majority of the family members that attended the family meeting (at Linconlwood Place in Illinois at 3:00 PM on June 10th) to hear the hype about it objected to the cost, Senior Lifestyle is forging ahead, against the wishes of their customer. They have a contract with GE which obligates them to pay for the system in every room, so in spite of a family’s objection to the cost and service “enhancement”, tough luck.

  • Kathy Hofstrom

    Michael, much like you found in Illinois, Senior LifeStyle has installed the QuietCare system in their Memory Care and Assisted Living units in their Fountain Hills, AZ location. Many of the residents (greater than 80%) signed a petition asking that this new service be made optional instead of mandatory. Many felt that the level of monitoring was an invasion of their privacy. While I am sure that the service could benefit some residents, many felt that they did not need it at this time. So far the only response has been they it can be turned off in a given apartment, but the resident would still be charged. Is the system now in production? Have you seen any benefits?