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Techniques such as ballistocardiography (BCG) that can provide noninvasive long-term physiological monitoring have gained interest due to a growing recognition of adverse effects from poor sleep and sleep disorders. The noninvasive analysis of physiological signals (NAPS) system is a BCG-based monitoring system developed to measure heart rate, breathing rate, and musculoskeletal movement that shows promise as a general sleep analysis tool. Overnight sleep studies were conducted on 40 healthy subjects during a clinical trial at the University of Virginia. The NAPS system's measures of heart rate and breathing rate were compared to ECG, pulse oximetry, and respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP). The subjects were split into a training dataset and a validation dataset, maintaining similar demographics in each set. The NAPS system accurately detected heart rate, averaged over the prescribed 30-s epochs, to within less than 2.72 beats per minute of ECG, and accurately detected breathing rate, averaged over the same epochs, to within 2.10 breaths per minute of RIP bands used in polysomnography.

This paper describes a study designed to assess the acceptance and some psychosocial impacts of monitoring technology in assisted living. Monitoring systems were installed in 22 assisted living units to track the activities of daily living (ADLs) and key alert conditions of residents (15 of whom were nonmemory care residents). Activity reports and alert notifications were sent to professional caregivers who provided care to residents participating in the study. Diagnostic use of the monitoring data was assessed. Nonmemory care residents were surveyed and assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) instrument. Pre- and post-installation SWLS scores were compared. Older adult participants accepted monitoring. The results suggest that monitoring technologies could provide care coordination tools that are accepted by residents and may have a positive impact on their quality of life.

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The objective of this study was to assess the impact of passive health status monitoring on the cost of care, as well as the efficiencies of professional caregivers in assisted living. We performed a case-controlled study to assess economic impact of passive health status monitoring technology in an assisted-living facility. Passive monitoring systems were installed in the assisted-living units of 21 residents to track physiological parameters (heart rate and breathing rate), the activities of daily living (ADLs), and key alert conditions. Professional caregivers were provided with access to the wellness status of the monitored residents they serve. The monitored individuals' cost of medical care was compared to that of an age, gender, and health status matched cohort. Similarly, efficiency and workloads of professional caregivers providing care to the monitored individuals were compared to those of caregivers providing care to the control cohort in the control site. Over the 3-month period of the study, a comparison between the monitored and control cohorts showed reductions in billable interventions (47 vs. 73, p = 0.040), hospital days (7 vs. 33, p = 0.004), and estimated cost of care (21,187.02 dollars vs. 67,753.88 dollars with monitoring cost included, p = 0.034). A comparison between efficiency normalized workloads of monitoring and control sites' caregivers revealed significant differences both at the beginning (0.6 vs. 1.38, p = 0.041) and the end (0.84 vs. 1.94, p = 0.002) of the study. The results demonstrate that monitoring technologies have significantly reduced billable interventions, hospital days, and cost of care to payers, and had a positive impact on professional caregivers' efficiency.