Casana develops device to monitor heart health at home

A Rochester-based healthcare technology startup has launched its Smart Integrated Technologies Lab and is looking for volunteers to help with a study aimed at improving heart health with a device people will ultimately be able to use from the comfort of their homes.

Leaders at Casana said the lab is dedicated to developing and validating innovative and easy-to-use health products that allow for convenient in-home health monitoring.

Its first product is the Heart Seat, a cloud-connected self-contained toilet seat-based cardiovascular monitoring system that measures health parameters for assessing heart health.

The user-friendly device allows physicians to understand the health of their patients between doctor visits by monitoring their cardiac health status from home on a daily basis, said Nicholas Conn, Casana’s founder and chief scientific officer.

Conn founded Casana, formerly Heart Health Intelligence Inc., in 2018.

He developed the Heart Seat during his Ph.D. work at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Conn earned three degrees from RIT: a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and a doctoral degree in microsystems engineering in 2016.

The focus of the company is on providing effortless health monitoring resulting in better healthcare, Conn said.

The toilet seats are equipped to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart, and can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation levels and the patient’s weight and stroke volume, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart at every beat.

The data obtained from the seat can provide clear trends that allow practitioners to manage patients’ cardiac care from home and will be able to address patients’ need as they arise, Conn said.

According to Conn, the system will be able to detect deteriorating conditions before the patients even have symptoms, which could allow for interventions such as a drug change or office visit, instead of an admission to the hospital, he explained.

Casana plans to pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to further validate the clinical-grade technology built into the Heart Seat that makes it a unique IoT device for heart disease management.

The study will provide much needed data from numerous subjects to help move the development forward, Conn noted.

Datto founder and former CEO Austin McChord — another RIT alum — is Casana’s CEO.

He noted the local community has an opportunity to participate in a study that could not only advance the firm’s first product into the marketplace but could also be a game-changer for the healthcare industry.

Future efforts for the firm could include enhanced capabilities for the Heart Seat and new product lines.

“This is just the beginning,” McChord said.

The Heart Seat could hit the market in early 2022, he said, noting the importance of collecting data during the volunteer study phase of the process.

The study will be conducted at Casana’s office and is open to anyone over 18 years old who wants to participate. The study will require a 90-minute commitment from participants, and a stipend is provided.

Additional details on the study and how to enroll can be found on Casana’s Website (casanacare.com).

The Heart Seat has already been tested through multiple peer-reviewed research studies, McChord added.

It has also gotten support from those in the local medical community.

Richard Gangemi M.D., senior advisor to Rochester Regional Health Foundation, says the impact of the Heart Seat could be immense, noting it measures critical parameters of heart patients in their own homes.

“It allows early subtle detection of clinical deterioration on a daily basis,” Gangemi said.

He adds such early intervention translates to safety for the patient, prevention of emergency room visits, prevention of hospitalizations, decrease in health care costs and, most importantly, prevention of avoidable deaths.

“It extends the reach of the clinician into the patient’s home,” Gangemi said.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person dies every 36 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease, according to data from the federal agency.

The Heart Seat has the potential to both improve patient outcomes with heart disease prevention and decrease the high costs of heart failure in the U.S., Conn added.

The device can benefit healthcare providers, patients and payors by helping to keep people healthy, reduce hospital admissions and lower the total cost of care, Conn said.

“The impact this could have is very real,” Conn said.

Casana’s efforts have led to growth at the firm, increasing its workforce from a handful of employees at the start of the company to nearly 25 workers.

The firm is seeking additional employees, including software and mechanical engineers.

Casana has also been adding to its coffers.

The firm announced in February it had secured $14 million in Series A funding, bringing the total capital raised to $16.6 million.

The financing round was led by General Catalyst and the Outsiders Fund, with participation from Wisconsin-based Bemis Manufacturing Co., the largest manufacturer of toilet seats in the world and the lead investor for Casana’s seed funding round.

Casana will use its financing to bring the Heart Seat to market. It also plans to use the funds to accelerate its work studying the benefits of an IoT heart health device for heart failure patients with health systems and risk-bearing organizations, including the University of Florida and the Villages Health, company leaders said.

Andrea Deckert is a Rochester-area freelance writer.