ForaCare, Inc.
Integrated Technology for Chronic Disease Management

The rapid evolution of telemedicine technologies is enabling better care, greater patient access and the promise of bending the healthcare cost curve. Once thought of as a solution primarily reserved for individuals living in remote areas, telemedicine’s advantages range from the capability of reaching a very wide variety of patients to assisting healthcare professionals in making medical decisions more efficiently. Through telemedicine, remote patient monitoring systems, and technology, clinicians can proactively take action and manage chronic disease conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Establishing an efficient and effective healthcare management platform to serve professionals and patients, ForaCare Inc., a subsidiary of ForaCare Global Corp., based in Moorpark, CA, designs, develops, and markets medical devices and technology solutions for chronic disease management. “Our TeleHealth Solution is a tool designed specifically for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension offering continuous care,” says Derek Lin, CEO, ForaCare Global.

The company offers a combination of advanced medical devices such as wireless voice guided blood glucose meters, blood pressure meters with cellular network connectivity and cloud-based software to easily and economically perform remote patient monitoring. The devices measure a patient’s glucose, blood pressure, pulse, weight, temperature and percent blood oxygen.

ForaCare’s 24/7 HealthView TeleHealth Solution helps clinicians to continuously manage patient care between face-to-face encounters. The cloud-based solution set includes medical devices, diabetes management mobile apps and versatile connectivity options. At the heart of the FORA TeleHealth solution is a new model for chronic disease management - a transformation of episodic patient care to continuous care.

In the traditional healthcare model, a patient is expected to reach out to their provider every three months and the physician can only hope the patient makes their appointments.

Derek Lin, CEO of ForaCare Global explains, “With the FORA Telehealth Solution a radical shift occurs in the quality of care a physician can provide. Continual visibility to a patient’s self-testing compliance and results means suggestions and feedback can be given immediately. In some cases interventions can occur before a situation becomes life-threatening.”

FORA 24/7 HealthView TeleHealth System provides accessibility to patient data from any mobile device or web browser via the FORA cloud. Users can upload their daily measuring results of blood glucose and blood pressure via Bluetooth connectivity or through the cellular network (GPRS/3G) to the cloud server. “Even if a patient is at an airport, he can take blood glucose reading as long as he is within the connectivity range and transmit that data to the cloud,” says Lin. The specialist in the service center reviews the data on the cloud server and monitors the status of the patient. Furthermore, the healthcare professional can promptly provide healthcare consultation. The system allows users to print reports, view pie and trend graphs for compliance, add data and monitor HbA1c levels for every single patient. It also generates automatic alerts to patients and physicians. A patient’s biometrics are wirelessly sent and organized in the system. ForaCare’s advanced medical devices transmit biometric data via Bluetooth or GPRS or the Gateway device to the FORA TeleHealth system in a secure and HIPAA compliant environment. The company values and listens to the input of clinicians and patients in developing novel approaches to the challenges of diabetes and hypertension care to create pioneering products. ForaCare believes in building long lasting relationships with its distributors to drive its global vision of providing affordable chronic health management and resources.

For the goal ahead, the company aims to reach as many patients as possible in an effort to provide affordable telehealth solutions for every single patient. “We are currently expanding into North, Central and South America and are competing to be one of the top five glucose meter manufacturers,” concludes Lin.