GrandPad, creator of a tablet for people over 75, is adding connected device capabilities to its mobile device and telehealth platform to support virtual care and remote monitoring for healthcare providers.

The expanded capabilities come as senior living, home health and other healthcare companies are relying more than ever on technology to promote engagement and provide healthcare. GrandPad Daily Connect, for instance, is designed to detect abnormalities in the physical, cognitive and emotional well-being of older adults and to wirelessly transmit data and insights to caregivers to determine if interventions are needed when values are outside the normal range for the older adult.

“The mental and physical well-being of older adults can indicate whether health status may be improving or deteriorating. For example, seeing a sudden decrease in mobility or sleep can be a sign that an intervention is needed to prevent exacerbation of illness,” said co-founder and CEO Scott Lien. “By expanding our telehealth platform to include connected devices, we hope to make GrandPad even more accessible and easier for healthcare companies to integrate into their care delivery models.”

GrandPad Daily Connect currently integrates a wearable device designed to track sleep and steps; a body weight scale; and a device that records blood pressure, pulse ox, body temperature, heart rate and respiration in a simple, safe and reliable way. All devices connect via Bluetooth or Direct Cloud Connect and can be integrated separately into the GrandPad tablet or bundled as part of GrandPad Daily Connect for caregivers. GrandPad comes with a proprietary, secure, telehealth platform with video capabilities for virtual care. It is HIPAA compliant and easily integrates with other telehealth platforms.

“Healthcare companies turned to GrandPad when COVID-19 hit because our built-in 4GLTE and secure video calling made it easy to conduct video visits in nursing homes and in-home care settings that often have no internet or limited bandwidth for connecting via traditional mobile devices or telemedicine platforms,” said Lien. “Our healthcare provider partners are telling us that our easy-to-use patient and provider interface, the positive response they’re seeing from users, and our new connected capabilities, will make GrandPad an essential element in telehealth strategies in the future.”

GrandPad isn’t the only company seeing its popularity explode due to COVID-19. Adoption has spiked significantly in the U.S., and foreign vendors are looking for a piece of the nursing home market.

Vtuls is offering its artificial intelligence-backed remote health monitoring for free. Vtuls’ FDA-approved technology can remotely track more than 40 vital signs including temperature, blood oxygen, blood pressure and pain, using machine learning to send an early warning alert to clinicians when deterioration occurs.

The company claims clinical trials have shown its technology leads to improved patient outcomes and decreased healthcare costs for conditions such as heart failure, COPD and diabetes. The platform is in use in seven countries — and being used to monitor COVID-19 in some of those.

“Earlier detection of Covid-19 cases in care homes would enable faster treatment of infected residents and reduce cluster outbreaks that occur when residents are isolated too slowly,” said CEO and founder Jas Saini. “Daily remote health monitoring of vital signs could play an important part in this. Not only would it uncover suspected cases earlier, therefore enabling better targeting of testing resources, it would also catch cases that occur after a resident has been given the all-clear from a previous test, that would otherwise not be picked up until much later.”

The Swiss-based firm  is offering free use of its technology for the next three months to any care home operator. The platform can be deployed within 48 hours, including delivery of equipment and comprehensive training of staff.