If a person with a chronic medical condition falls behind on doctor visits, a manageable condition may worsen and lead to a serious condition that requires hospitalization.
That’s what Medek Health Systems LLC tries to prevent. The Mount Dora-based tech firm’s remote patient monitoring platform allows users to track their vital statistics such as blood pressure from home, with the data analyzed by artificial intelligence and a team of health care professionals.
The system, called Medek RPM, was launched in early 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic stopped many doctors from implementing new programs, but that is changing amid a steady drop off in U.S. cases, CEO Stan Van Meter told Orlando Business Journal. “We are incredibly busy. We have hiring requisitions out for every position you could imagine.”
Medek RPM, used by clients across the country, has triggered growth at Medek. Van Meter declined to share how many open positions the company needs to fill, but he said Medek experiences double-digit growth each month. The company employs tech workers and health care workers at the level of registered nurse or higher.
The creation of tech jobs is important because they usually pay high wages. Technology sector jobs in Orlando pay an average salary of $88,759, according to a report by Los Angeles-based commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE). That’s more than the metro area’s average annual salary of $48,530, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There is a major need to monitor conditions easily, especially among seniors. Roughly 80% of seniors have at least one chronic condition, defined as a medical condition that lasts one year or longer, according to the National Council on Aging. Delaying care until they need to be hospitalized costs the patient and the health care industry more money, Van Meter said.”It’s very bad for the patient, and it’s very expensive to society.”
In addition to Medek RPM, Medek offers a wide range of health tech services. They include a telehealth platform, which has racked up three million app downloads, Van Meter said. Plus, the company continues to see strong demand for its Covid-19 testing kits.
Other local companies also see promise in patient monitoring technology. For example, Orlando-based Care.ai Inc. makes autonomous sensors that monitor patients. CEO Chakri Toleti previously told OBJ autonomous monitoring has a long way to go in the industry, but “health care is perhaps the one industry that has the most promise for a real human benefit daily.”
In addition, the use of artificial intelligence in health care is attracting investment dollars. The first quarter was a record for venture capital investment in AI health care companies, with $2.5 billion raised, according to New York-based analytics firm CB Insights.
Medek Health Systems LLC
- Headquarters: Mount Dora
- Employees: 50+
- Contact: info@medekhealth.com
Sign up here for our free morning and afternoon daily newsletters. And be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
