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Ellis Hospital pilots continuous-temperature TempShield to spot infections early in cancer patients
Summary
Schenectady presenters described a pilot Stay Well program using Aion27s TempShield to continuously monitor temperature in oncology patients at Ellis Hospital, reporting early results and insurance coverage rates while noting full statistics are pending publication.
City presenters and clinicians described a pilot remote-patient-monitoring program at Ellis Hospital that uses the TempShield wearable to continuously track body temperature in cancer patients and flag possible infections before symptoms appear.
The presentation, given during the Feb. 24 Schenectady City Council meeting, centered on the Stay Well program and its use of TempShield, a device made by Aion. Dr. Mahmoud, an oncologist at Ellis Hospital27s cancer center, told the council that infections are a major driver of hospital stays for oncology patients: "Nearly 60 percent of cancer patients die from infections. A third of our patients are admitted and readmitted because of infections. And 40 percent of our patients experience unplanned hospitalizations," she said. She added that "every hour that we delay...start of antibiotics increases the risk of death by 8 percent."
The presenters said continuous temperature monitoring can pick up the early, often cyclical, temperature spikes that daily spot checks can miss. A program representative told the council the device is placed on the chest and transmits hourly readings so clinical teams can call a patient and advise an office visit instead of an emergency-room trip. The same speaker said "99 percent of the patients were covered by insurance and 60 percent had no out of pocket cost," and that more-detailed outcome statistics are being withheld pending publication.
Dr. Mahmoud and the presenters characterized the program as having reduced inpatient days and lowered 60-day mortality in the pilot cohort, though they did not release the underlying data at the meeting. The presenters said the program27s next steps include seeking partnerships with regional payers and hospitals named during the presentation: MVP Health Care, CDPHP, Albany Med and Saint Peter27s. They also discussed expanding monitoring to other high-risk groups such as dialysis patients and long-term care residents.
Council members and staff asked brief procedural questions after the presentation; no formal council action was taken during the meeting on expansion or funding. Presenters stressed the results are pending peer-reviewed publication and cautioned that the complete statistics could not be publicly released until that process is complete.
If adopted more broadly, program leaders said, remote continuous-temperature monitoring could allow Ellis Hospital and the City of Schenectady to play a larger regional role in delivering advanced outpatient cancer treatments that require close infection surveillance, such as CAR-T and bispecific antibody therapies.
The presentation closed with a short video demonstrating patient experience and clinical workflow for the Stay Well program.
