Monitoring sleep disorders while traveling just became easier this week after the San Diego based company, ResMed announced that the AirMini, a miniature CPAP device, will now to be able to connect to the AirView, a remote patient monitoring platform. The new feature allows clinicians to remotely monitor patients’ nightly data, verify adherence and find therapy issues, according to the press release. 

"When AirMini launched in April, it used Bluetooth connectivity to sync with the patient app for controlling the device and monitoring personal nightly sleep data," Laura Jennings, AirMini product manager, wrote in an email to MobiHealthNews. "With AirMini intended to be a secondary therapy to complement regular home usage of a provider-connected bedside CPAP, our priority was getting it into the hands of patients and then turning on these additional connectivity features to offer more support. With the latest updates to the AirMini app and AirView, we have taken that a step further to allow home medical equipment (HME) providers [to] view patients' nightly data, verify adherence, and spot therapy issues.”

The mini was cleared by the FDA in January and officially launched in April. Since launch, the AirMini has allowed patients to see their own nightly data with an app on an iOS or Android phone.

Patients can now download the latest version of the app, which allows physicians and home health providers to monitor patient’s sleep.

Once patients download the AirMini app, they can opt to upload their data into the cloud. This information can then be accessed by a home medical equipment provider who can view the reports, charts and therapy thresholds in AirView, according to the press statement. This is the same process used with ResMed’s bedside device, the Air10. 

ResMed said this connection will give physicians and healthcare professionals the opportunity to educate and engage patients to reach the best outcomes. In a study conducted by ResMed, which studied 128,000 individuals with sleep apnea, 87 percent of patients were adherent when remote and self-monitoring tools were used. ResMed boasts of remotely monitoring 4 million patients remotely everyday. 

The AirMini is the smallest PAP device on the market, weighing about two thirds of a pound. While the company says the AirMini matches the performance of the larger AirSense 10, it is only intended to be a secondary device, particularly for travel. 

“This is something that you take with you, you go through the TSA line with it, and when you get to where you are going, you just pull it out of your bag like you would your smartphone and plug it in,” ResMed CEO Mick Farrell told MobiHealthNews in an interview in January. “It’s a way to take treatment for sleep apnea mainstream, which is needed because it is so common.”

The AirMini is also compatible with myAir, a ResMed product that contextualizes information-based coaching on how to improve their therapy through videos, emails and encouragement along the way.

ResMed launched its first connect CPAP bedside devices, in its Air Solutions line in 2014. Now all Air10 products have a cellular chip that stores and transmits data. The company also has a program called the ResMed Data Exchanges that integrates with EHRs.