TechRunner IT CEO Dan Komis and AlphaRidge CEO Alex Margovsky — two MSPs in the Long Island, New York region — have teamed up to bring a novel disease management solution to senior care facilities. Powered by NinjaOne’s network monitoring solution, their new venture, VivaTrace, is making healthcare management easier and more productive.
COVID-19 has revealed the value of technology in powering the next generation of disease management and monitoring. In the last year, researchers have employed “high tech” solutions like machine learning for drug discovery and development. At the same time, “low tech” solutions like wearables to track individual locations and health data have proven to be an effective method for proactively tracking, containing, and treating potential outbreaks.
Despite research showing the value of deploying technology like wearable devices, implementing new technology remains a challenge for healthcare administrators. One reason for low adoption rates of new technology is that managing a fleet of remote devices is complex and requires a level of expertise that smaller clinics, doctors’ offices, and senior care centers often lack. However, as trusted technology advisors, some managed service providers have stepped in to provide technical guidance and services that improve healthcare management and outcomes.
Most recently, TechRunner IT CEO Dan Komis and AlphaRidge CEO Alex Margovsky teamed up to bring a novel disease management solution to senior care facilities in the Long Island, New York, region. In their new venture, Vivatrace, the pair developed an IoT wristband and software platform for tracking relevant disease management data including last test dates, last results, antibody status, and vaccine information. The solution allows facility administrators to establish digital “bubbles” inside organizations to effectively monitor and manage residents’ exposure to diseases like COVID-19, influenza, MRSA, C-diff, and other dangerous threats prevalent in senior resident populations.
Modernizing disease management to improve senior care and keep residents safe
“Location tracking services and technology have been and are actively used in some hospitals. Inside nursing home facilities, however, this is an area that hasn’t received as much investment,” said VivaTrace co-founder and AlphaRidge CEO Alex Margovsky.
“As we’re seeing now with COVID-19, senior care facilities have been the hardest hit and that’s leading many care providers to reevaluate how they can employ technology to better care for residents.”
Alex Margovksy, VivaTrace co-founder and AlphaRidge CEO
Contact tracing is just one part of disease management, and as CEOs of their respective managed IT services business with clients primarily in healthcare, the team learned that local senior care facilities were eager for tools to deliver a holistic level of care to residents. The platform developed by VivaTrace utilizes real-time location tracking combined with disease management data to more effectively manage each resident and who they come into contact with.
Through a base station that broadcasts a unique signal and a wristband with a built-in sensor, VivaTrace’s solution creates a mesh or private bubble around an environment. Within that bubble, administrators can track the location of any resident wearing a device. The devices are connected by NinjaOne’s network monitoring system, which allows facility administrators to monitor the uptime of each device on the network and receive an alert when a device goes offline so they can investigate and remediate the issue.
Expanding the approach outside of senior care facilities
In the next year, VivaTrace aims to be distributed across multiple senior care homes to help prevent the next wave of COVID-19 or the next infectious disease. The company’s “low tech” solution is already being piloted by some senior care homes in Long Island, New York, which has been met with praise by facility administrators. But while VivaTrace is currently focused on senior care homes, the technology has wide applications to other industries. From educational institutions to office complexes where large numbers of people visit every day, this toolset can easily be adopted for these organizations to operate safely.
“This is a big endeavor, but like anything that’s worth it, it takes late nights, lots of work, and high levels of commitment and dedication to get it done,”
Dan Komis, VivaTrace co-founder and TechRunner IT CEO
