Newswise — A new remote monitoring platform developed by the Mount Sinai Health System is helping health care providers to care for COVID-19 patients who are recovering at home. With the platform, providers can monitor the patients’ symptoms and adjust care as necessary, including sending the patient to the hospital if symptoms worsen.

The platform was originally developed for stroke patients by Christopher Kellner, MD, and David Putrino, PhD, Co-Directors of Mount Sinai’s Precision Recovery Platform. When the COVID-19 outbreak began, Drs. Kellner and Putrino quickly repurposed it to address the large number of patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 whose symptoms are not severe enough to need hospitalization.

The COVID-19 version of the platform launched early last week and has already enrolled hundreds of patients.

“Technology has a massive role to play in this major health care crisis,” said Dr. Kellner, an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Intracerebral Hemorrhage Program. “And with remote monitoring of COVID-19, we can save hospital resources for the patients who need them most, but also quickly triage patients if and when they begin to show more severe symptoms while they are being monitored at home.”

Dr. Putrino, an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Co-Director of the Abilities Research Center at Mount Sinai, said, “At the same time, we can also continue to provide vulnerable patients with excellent routine care, keep them out of the hospital, and shield them from additional exposure to the virus. We are saving lives.”

How Does It Work?

A patient can enroll in the program by a Mount Sinai Health System physician or the patient can text the words "Precision Recovery" to (332) 213-9130. A Mount Sinai provider from the Precision Recovery team will then contact them as soon as possible to establish an online video chat for on-boarding. As part of the on-boarding, the patient downloads a daily symptom tracking application, MyCap, which is completed via smart device to help the team track symptoms of the virus, such as body temperature, cough, breathing levels, and body aches. If a health care provider on the team sees concerning data during the home monitoring, the provider can enlist one of the Mount Sinai doctors on the team to have an online video chat with the patient. If necessary, they can organize an emergency medical team for mobilization. The program has escalated a handful of patients to the hospital so far. According to Drs. Kellner and Putrino, Precision Recovery has the capacity to help thousands more. To learn more about the program go to https://precisionrecovery.net/ 

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality care—from prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty and our physicians in the top 1% of all physicians nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.