Press Release

Mount Sinai Begins Pilot of Respiratory Disease Management Platform

(November 13, 2014)

The Department of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is conducting an investigational pilot study of a respiratory disease management platform, developed by Cohero Health, in pediatric asthma patients seen in two high volume pediatric clinics at the Mount Sinai Health System. Patients will use Cohero’s platform that employs connected devices and a game-based mobile app to increase and monitor adherence to asthma medication.

“Mount Sinai's work with CoheroHealth demonstrates its commitment to clinical innovation through technology and entrepreneurship,” said Daniel Seltzer, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship (C-TIE) at Mount Sinai Health System; the Cohero Health team worked closely with C-TIE in developing its innovative platform and helping bring it to market.

Cohero’s platform consists of their HeroTracker™ sensor that attaches to a medication inhaler to track medication use and syncs wirelessly to Cohero’s AsthmaHero™ mobile application. The app tracks adherence over time, generates customized reminders and provides a game experience that offers patients in-app and monetary rewards for consistently taking their medication as prescribed. It can also provide parents and caregivers with real time updates of patient medication use as well as weekly and monthly summary reports. The system also incorporates a mobile spirometer to track clinically relevant lung function measures between office visits.

“Cohero is a result of my years of research in chronic respiratory care,” said Cohero co-founder Melissa Manice, PhD, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at Mount Sinai. “Our platform was designed to address the hurdles to proper care and help reduce the overall cost of treating respiratory disease.”

"Adherence to controller medication is essential for the proper treatment of asthma. I’m looking forward to seeing how Cohero's technology of reminding and rewarding patients will improve adherence,” said Dr. Andrew Ting, Pediatric Pulmonologist at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

In addition, by collecting data on controller and rescue medication use, along with the resulting changes in pulmonary function, Cohero is able to conduct predictive analytics in novel ways. “At the patient-level, the platform enables identification of exacerbations and their causes before they occur. On a macro-level, it enables analysis of how patient populations use respiratory drugs, and the resulting effect on lung function,” said Cohero co-founder Daniel Weinstein.

Cohero’s technology supports EMR integration, which enables patient data to be transferred automatically and securely directly into a patient’s record. "Having ready access to adherence and spirometry data will give me a much clearer picture of what's happening with my patients, and will be helpful for our clinical decision making," said Dr. Ting.

The study will measure improvements in medication adherence and lung function of patients using Cohero’s platform as compared to a control group.

About CoheroHealth, LLC
CoheroHealth is a digital health company focused on bringing innovative technologies to improve respiratory care. The company uses connected devices and an interactive, game based, mobile application to track and improve medication adherence and lung function. The company is located in New York City, and is a participant in StartupHealth, Springboard, and GrandCentral Tech startup accelerator programs. Dr. Melissa Manice is a co-founder and equity-holder in CoheroHealth. Visit http://www.coherohealth.com or email info@coherohealth.com for more information.

Tags: Mount Sinai Health System, Patient Care

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.

As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.

Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.