Wireless remote monitoring for patients with heart conditions is fast becoming a crowded space for wireless health companies — CardioNet, the only pureplay wireless health company to have gone public and LifeWatch, a Switzerland-based company are just two of the big players in this ever popular field. Last month we noted that Corventis had received FDA approval for its MCOT system, which put it in competition with the two industry stalwarts.
Before Corventis entered the market, however, Houston-based startup eCardio, founded in 2004, was on the scene. The Houston Chronicle recently caught up with eCardio and profiled the start-up in a roundup of Houston-based innovators.
What’s eCardio’s elevator pitch? eCardio offers a device that lets doctors monitor patients’ hearts remotely. More details? ”Patients wear a device the size of a BlackBerry on their hip or around their neck as well as two electrodes that monitor the heart’s electrical activity. A microprocessor in the wireless device analyzes the data and transfers data to the company’s monitoring center, where it’s verified and sent to the doctor,” according to the Houston Chronicle report.
The company already has 20,000 users, the newspaper reported. eCardio’s two founders each come from one end of the wireless health market — one, Larry Lawson, had a medical sales and marketing background and the other, Robert Jordan, had previously worked in the telecom industry.
eCardio states that both Medicare and private insurers reimburse for its services and that the company is profitable. Sequoia Capital invested an undisclosed amount into the company to help it acquire other startups last year. No word on acquisitions yet, however.
For more, read the Chronicle report here