BOSTON, MA June 20, 2018 — Commonwealth Care Alliance, Inc. (CCA) today announced a partnership with LifePod Solutions, pioneer of a voice-first technology service for patients and their caregivers. LifePod’s programmed, proactive, and intuitive voice interface is designed to engage patients in support of medication adherence, daily physical activities and medical care plans, and to provide reminders for upcoming appointments and important personal events. In addition, LifePod supports lifestyle changes and provides social connections.
CCA, through its for-profit subsidiary Winter Street Ventures, has been investigating how voice-based solutions like LifePod’s can create a “connected home environment” to support patients, clinicians and healthcare providers. CCA decided to partner with LifePod after a small trial among CCA health plan members and their care partners showed strong acceptance and potential.
“At CCA, we push to be on the cutting edge of clinical and technological innovation in order to fulfill our mission of providing the best possible care for our members and patients while reducing long-term costs,” said Christopher D. Palmieri, President & CEO of Commonwealth Care Alliance. “We have long recognized the promise of new technologies, particularly AI and voice, in helping our members and patients stay in their homes and communities. LifePod offers endless opportunities to measurably improve the patient experience and achieve cost efficiencies.”
Under the terms of the partnership, CCA and Winter Street Ventures will provide a direct investment along with research, development and testing resources to LifePod. Through a Beta program with CCA members beginning in the fall of 2018, CCA and LifePod will develop extensions to LifePod’s Virtual Caregiver service that will be tailored to the specific needs of CCA’s member populations, who often have complex conditions including multiple disabilities.
“We are honored that CCA has chosen to partner with LifePod to bring the first-ever, voice-first virtual caregiver to market to address the needs of seniors aging-in-place and other patients and their caregivers, whether they be family members or professionals,” said Stuart R. Patterson, CEO of LifePod. “CCA is a visionary leader in putting technology innovations to work for patients with complex medical and behavioral health needs who all too often have no access to the connected world of intelligent, online services. Using the power of voice and AI, the LifePod service will open this world up for the benefit of CCA’s patients and their caregiving team.”
LifePod expands the capabilities of popular smart speakers with innovative technology that makes LifePod an easy-to-use voice service for patients and their caregivers. With its unique and intuitive two-way voice interface, caregiver-configured check-ins, healthy-behavior reminders, and friendly voice-based dialogues, LifePod will facilitate improved communication between personal care attendants and their patients, and support CCA members in exciting new ways with the goal of improving its home healthcare services delivery and cost-management model.
About Commonwealth Care Alliance
Founded by visionary healthcare pioneers, Commonwealth Care Alliance® (CCA) is nationally recognized for its innovation and expertise in caring for high-cost, high-needs populations. As a not-for-profit, community-based healthcare organization, CCA is dedicated to improving care for individuals who are dually eligible for MassHealth (Medicaid) and Medicare with complex medical, behavioral health and social needs, including those with disabilities. In total, CCA has more than 27,000 health plan members in its care. Winter Street Ventures is CCA’s for-profit health innovation subsidiary created to partner with early stage entrepreneurs to take healthcare technology, devices and services from concept to marketplace.
About LifePod Solutions
LifePod Solutions is improving the quality of life for caregivers and their loved ones by providing voice-initiated, intelligent and connected services to support seniors as they age-in-place. LifePod’s easy-to-use voice service expands the capabilities of popular smart speakers with patent-pending innovative technology that provides a natural voice dialog, configured and controlled by remote caregivers using an online portal. The LifePod voice technology offers proactive, voice-based check-ins and reminders, and encourages users to access other online services (e.g., music, weather, therapy, etc.) to enhance their day and help them feel more connected. The LifePod team, led by veterans in virtual assistant technology, speech recognition, IoT and online services for seniors, works closely with families, professional caregivers, and senior living facilities to improve health outcomes and reduce the costs of long-term care. To learn more or sign up for the LifePod Beta Program, visit lifepod.com.