Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Table of Contents 

1. What is the iCare system?
2. What is the Virtual Care Team?
3. What are iCare Video Housecall™ and iCare ExamCam™?
4. What is iCare's Telehealth ISP?
5. What equipment is in the patient's home or remote care site?
6. Is an internet connection or computer required for iCare services?
7. How much training does iCare require?

What is the iCare system ?

iCare’s "new telemedicine" is a patient-centric integrated suite of web-based software and remote devices for technology enabled chronic care management of medically fragile patients and seniors.  iCare monitoring, messaging, and clinical management services enable the patient, caregivers, and clinicians to function as an integrated Virtual Care Team™ , overcoming time, distance, and mobility barriers. The iCare system consists of:

• The Virtual Care Team™, the central integrating application that runs on iCare's ASP servers

• Remote premise devices such as iCare ExamCam™ video house call system, integrated blood pressure cuffs, digital  scales, etc.

• The Telehealth ISP™, iCare's networking technology that links remote sites and central clinicians using publicly available Internet. 

Sponsoring organizations, such as hospitals, insurance plans, home health agencies, and group practices can select only those software services, remote devices, and connectivity options that serve the needs of their patients and clinicians.

Back to Top

What is the Virtual Care Team ?

The Virtual Care Team™ is iCare's central care management ASP software that runs on industrial grade servers at iCare's data center. ASP means that access to your copy of the Virtual Care Team™, the  "application service" is "provided" by our servers and you do not need to invest or maintain expensive server hardware. Institutional customers "rent" a copy of the Virtual Care Team that is branded for the institution. Virtual Care Team functionality for care team members includes:

• Video Housecall™- video house calls with no computer in the home
• electronic messaging- multimodal SMS, mobile phone, page, e-mail, e-fax, and HIPAA compliant
• digital photos (wounds, dermatology), video clips and customizable forms
• best practice care management plans and templates for best practice
• remote vital sign collection, management, distribution, and alerting
• electronic alerting of the care team for out of range and missing data

Back to Top

What are iCare Video Housecall™ and iCare ExamCam™?

Video Housecall includes a high-quality web-based digital video camera, called the iCare ExamCam, that is placed at the patient's bedside. The iCare ExamCam, with pan-tilt-zoom controls, is viewed by the remote clinician using a standard web browser and Internet connection.  The camera includes a high-quality electronic stethoscope through which the clinician can listen to the heart, lungs, and other body sounds.  The patient and remote site caregivers turn the iCare ExamCam on and off with a single button.  The clinician controls the video camera and auscultation through a standard browser.

What is iCare's Telehealth ISP?

The Telehealth ISP is the communication technology that allows iCare to use the public Internet to connect  remote devices and care sites to the the Virtual Care Team members. Because healthcare applications require special performance and security, iCare tweaks the Internet ensure better performance. 

Back to Top

What equipment is in the patient's home or remote care site?

In the typical home care scenario, depending on the patient's needs, the patient may have one or more of the following devices: digital blood pressure cuff, digital scale, glucose meter, pulse oximeter, other physiologic data capture devices, personal emergency response button, medication dispenser, or video house call camera and electronic stethoscope.

In the typical nursing home or foster home scenario, the remote site devices may include an iCare Vision ExamCam on a small rolling cart, electronic stethoscope, and other data collection devices.

If the sponsoring agency so chooses, the system can be set up for two way videoconferencing in order to facilitate distance education of the remote care team using the same devices that are used for patient care.

Back to Top

Is an internet connection or computer required for iCare services?

In the simplest iCare implementation, a computer and Internet access is not required in the patient's home. Vital signs and other physiologic parameters can be captured by the telephone system either through a data collection hub that connects to the phone line or through an automated interactive voice response system that calls the patient and caregivers. 

Optionally, the remote care team can record data directly into the Virtual Care Team web site with the PC.

The iCare Video Housecall system works over broadband Internet but does not require a computer in the patient's home, foster home, or at the nursing home.

Virtual Care Team members will connect to the Virtual Care Team web application using a standard internet browser and PC.

Back to Top

How much training does iCare require?

iCare requires almost no training. At the patient's home or other remote sites, iCare systems require only the minimal training needed to use a blood pressure cuff, scale, or glucose meter.  iCare's Video Housecall™ system does not require special training because there is only one large on-off button and no wires.  The clinician remotely controls the iCare ExamCam video (pan, tilt, zoom, lighting, snapshots, etc) through a simple, intuitive browser interface.