Watch app StrivePD helps patients between doctor visits in pilot
App reduces ER, specialist visits for patients in pilot program
App-based consumer technology like Rune Labs’ StrivePD may help people with Parkinson’s disease feel more confident in managing their symptoms, bridging the gap in specialty care by providing continuous monitoring, according to the results of a pilot program done in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente.
Patients in the program used the app on an Apple Watch to record their daily activities, allowing for better tracking of their symptoms. They saw a 42% reduction in emergency room visits and an 18% reduction in movement disorder specialists’ visit rates.
With better tracking, doctors may identify red flags early, reducing the need for emergency care. For patients, engaging in the pilot program also meant more time spent exercising and better adherence to their medication schedules.
“By taking a tailored approach informed by ongoing patient-specific data, we have seen substantial improvements in symptom management,” Ro’ee Gilron, PhD, lead neuroscientist at Rune Labs, said in a company press release.
The data were presented in a scientific poster, “Unlocking Movement Disorder Specialist Capacity and Mitigating Risk: a Platform Solution for Cost Reduction and Care Optimization in Parkinson’s Disease,” at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, held Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Philadelphia.
AI generates reports for doctors
The company recently launched StrivePD-AI, a feature in the app that uses artificial intelligence to generate monthly reports based on data from motion sensors built into the Apple Watch to monitor Parkinson’s motor symptoms and give doctors access to data outside clinical visits.
“I can approach each patient session with a much richer understanding of their disease progression,” said Suketu Khandhar, MD, a neurologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Sacramento Medical Center. “Patients also feel more confident in managing their symptoms, which has led to increased exercise and better health outcomes.”
That approach could bring “promising and impactful benefits for patients, caregivers, and clinicians,” Gilron said.
Even though more people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s each year, not everyone has ready access to healthcare. Patients may live far from specialists, can’t afford treatment, or face other barriers that make it harder for them to get the care they need.
“Limited worldwide supply of Parkinson’s specialty care restricts access to advanced therapies and correlates with higher symptom burdens and worse healthcare outcomes,” the researchers wrote.
The nine-month pilot program involved 138 people with Parkinson’s, ages 39-88, registered with Kaiser Permanente in California. All had moderately severe disease, with an average duration of six years. Their disease affected both sides of the body and responded to levodopa, a mainstay Parkinson’s treatment.
All patients used the Apple Watch to record their behavior for at least six hours of data per day, seven days per week. They engaged with the app at least once per week. In total, over 211,000 hours of data were collected.
Data analysis
“Consumer technologies can help patients, caregivers, and clinicians to better understand the patterns and triggers of this complex disease,” said Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs. “There’s never been a shortage of data around [Parkinson’s]. The big obstacle has been collecting, analyzing and making this data usable at scale, and this program has achieved exactly that.”
Data analysis revealed a reduction in both ER visits and time spent by movement disorder specialists. Ninety percent of patients increased their exercise, with 52% exercising more than 150 minutes per week.
Patients also gained better health insights, with 78% saying it helped their doctors understand their disease better. Medication adherence improved for 80% of patients, and engagement with the AIÂ feature was high, with patients providing detailed notes equivalent to one and a half novels in length.
“A few months back I thought I needed more visits with my doctor, but now StrivePD has helped me see a lot more about how I’m doing day to day, so now I feel that my visit frequency is fine the way it is,” said Keith Narasaki, a Parkinson’s patient in the San Francisco area. “StrivePD has provided important information in my treatment of how I can manage my [Parkinson’s] symptoms. It has helped quantify how and when I can optimize taking advantage of my [on] time and try to remain functional during my off periods.”
On time refers to periods when levodopa is working adequately and symptoms are under control, whereas off periods are times when the medication’s effects wear off and symptoms return or worsen.
“Patients reported value in the personalized reports and educational content, which increased confidence in disease management outside of clinician offices and boosted communications with clinicians during clinical visits,” the researchers wrote.
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