Sotera Wireless, the San Diego-based in-hospital mobile wireless monitoring company that's raised nearly $60 million from investors like Qualcomm and Intel, announced a deal with Utah-based healthcare system Intermountain Healthcare.
Back in March at HIMSS, Sotera announced it was piloting its ViSi Mobile wireless patient monitoring platform with two Intermountain hospitals, its flagship Intermountain Medical Center and LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. This week's announcement elevates that pilot to an official customer deal, and Intermountain's executive vice president and chief financial officer Bert Zimmerli will join Sotera's board of directors. Intermountain Healthcare is a nonprofit healthcare system with 22 hospitals and 185 clinics in Utah and Idaho.
As a clinical partner of Sotera, Intermountain will join Scripps Health, Palomar Pomerado Health, and NASA. According to Pomerado News, Palomar Pomerado became the first hospital to incorporate the ViSi Mobile system in February of this year. The system interfaces with Palomar Pomerado's EHR system, as it will at Intermountain Hospitals, according to Sotera.
The ViSi Mobile system monitors blood pressure, heart rate or pulse rate, electrocardiogram (ECG) or heart rhythm, blood oxygenation level, respiration rate and skin temperature from a wearable sensor system with a wristworn screen. ViSi received FDA clearance for it's full system in August 2012, after getting the monitoring device cleared in April 2012.
The company claims the system is as accurate as standard ICU devices, and it includes an alarm system that alerts physicians to sudden changes. Scripps Health cardiologist and unofficial digital health ambassador Dr. Eric Topol frequently uses the ViSi in his technology demonstrations, including his appearance on Comedy Central's Colbert Report earlier this year.
Sotera Wireless raised $14.8 million this past February, bringing the company's total funding to a little under $60 million. Among the company's investors are Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital, and the West Health Investment Fund.
