Alio, a medical technology company reinventing the management of chronic disease, has announced that it has been selected as winner of the “IoT Health & Wellness Company of the Year” award. This is the seventh annual awards program conducted by IoT Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organisation that recognises the top companies, technologies and products in the global Internet-of-Things (IoT) market today.
Alio’s technology works 24/7 to provide clinical-grade remote patient monitoring. The company’s SmartPatch product is non-invasive, wireless, and continuously collects metrics from patients while they go about their daily lives. The SmartPatch has the ability to monitor metrics such as heart rate, temperature, auscultation, haemoglobin, haematocrit and potassium. While Alio currently serves patients on dialysis, the remote patient monitoring system is capable of serving other patient populations faced with chronic conditions.
By capturing and sharing clinical-grade data, Alio makes it possible for clinicians and care teams to enable better patient care and avoid adverse health events. Traditionally, most metrics for dialysis patients have been monitored through a monthly blood draw but this approach leaves a considerable gap in data and insights available about the patient’s wellbeing throughout the rest of the month. The Alio platform provides clinicians with actionable analytics and notifications, capturing trend data and insights where there previously werenot any. Alio’s approach to remote patient monitoring is designed to improve health outcomes while decreasing avoidable healthcare costs.
“Chronic conditions affect more than one in three people globally and they can be better managed by accommodating and managing care outside the clinical setting. Remote monitoring for chronic conditions today is invasive, expensive, often provides inadequate data, and does not deliver a positive user experience – this decreases patient compliance”, said James Johnson, managing director at IoT Breakthrough. “Alio gathers important metrics with one simple SmartPatch and meets or exceeds the current standard of care. Alio insights brings remote monitoring into a new era of precision by providing quality data and better outcomes. Weare thrilled to recognise Alio as ‘IoT Health & Wellness Company of the Year!’”
The mission of the IoT Breakthrough Awards program is to recognise the innovators, leaders and visionaries from around the globe in a range of IoT categories, including Industrial and Enterprise IoT, Smart City technology, Connected Home and Home Automation, Connected Car, and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 4,000 nominations from companies all over the world.
“We are so incredibly honoured to receive this recognition from IoT Breakthrough. We know that intermittent monitoring while at the doctor’s office or hospital is not enough. Care does not just occur for patients with chronic conditions at the doctor’s office. To provide better care and close the gap on chronic conditions, we must create better insights into patient care outside the clinic,” said David Kuraguntla, co-founder and CEO of Alio. “At Alio, we donot rely on one-metric devices, use ‘off-the-shelf’ sensors, or look for insight from fitness trackers – Alio is designed to produce clinical-grade, accurate data, aggregated into actionable insights. Our mission is to provide peace of mind for patients in and – importantly – out of the clinical setting, empower patients to take back control of their lives, and prevent avoidable hospitalisations.”
David Whittaker joins as chief medical officer
Alio also recently announced its new chief medical officer (CMO), David Whittaker. Whittaker brings a combination of clinical, engineering, innovative, and entrepreneurial experience to Alio. As a practicing vascular surgeon, his clinical expertise spans the full breadth of minimally invasive endovascular procedures and open vascular reconstructions. His work in both the private and academic sectors enables a wide-ranging perspective on the clinical and economic factors that affect patient care and medical device development.
During his tenure as the CMO for the Defense Health Agency (DHA), he led innovation and design for the 51-hospital, US$52 billion + system serving nearly 10 million lives. In addition, Whittaker was responsible for positioning US$200 million in Department of Defense (DoD) investments and significant direct investments spanning 20 portfolios and five major program lines including management systems for emerging threats, autonomous systems, human performance, operational medicine, and integrated systems. Another central function of his role at the DHA was the assessment of available technologies and processes to revolutionise military healthcare.
“Understandably, providers are hesitant to implement new technology as it often creates greater friction within their workflows, it may be unclear how to bill for it, or there is not a substantial return on investment for the intended patient population,” said Whittaker. “Alio has not only proven the value it can provide, it is also a drastic improvement from the status quo, particularly for patients on dialysis. The Alio SmartPatch provides us with actionable patient metrics we would otherwise have zero insight into—and establishes important trends we can use to improve patient care.”
Alio adds Whittaker to the leadership roster after hitting a number of key milestones last year such as its first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, the opening of its new Denver area office—which now has more than 20 employees, and the launch and completion of a number of clinical studies.
In addition to Whittaker, Alio also brought on a new head of marketing, Dana Schroeder. Schroeder has worked in marketing and communications within a number of factions of healthcare including health benefits, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and international healthcare policy. Applying her experience working for seed-stage startups to Fortune 100 organisations, she will be responsible for preparing for commercial launch while expanding the company’s reach and influence in the digital health space.
