With over 2,000,000 cumulative pain assessments recorded around the world, a growing presence in the UK, an EMR (Electronic Medical Records) integration partnership piloting in the hospital market, regulatory approval underway in the US, and PainChek® Infant set to launch this year, PainChek is set for a big year of growth and opportunity.
Read more about PainChek’s recent highlights below and what lies ahead in 2023.
Australia & New Zealand: Ongoing growth and preparation for the commercial launch of PainChek® Infant
PainChek continued its strong growth across the Australian and New Zealand aged care market over the past quarter, contracting 12 new aged care providers which cover 19 facilities. A Home Care agreement has also been secured, allowing 585 consumers to benefit from best-practice pain assessment.
Residential aged care user training continues to be delivered remotely and the PainChek clinical team has now trained over 11,000 users and “train the trainers” to assist clients in their transition to digital platforms across Australia and New Zealand.
PainChek has integration agreements and/or in principle agreements to integrate in place with 12 Care Management partners, covering all major CMS providers and up to 205,000 aged care beds in the Australian and New Zealand aged care market. Additional integration agreements are also in place with three medication management partners.
KPMG report: PainChek® delivers positive outcomes for aged care
In 2019, the Australian Government funded a national rollout of PainChek® across residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in Australia. Global advisory firm KPMG recently undertook an evaluation of the PainChek® rollout and reported overwhelmingly positive outcomes for the aged care sector.
The report found that the PainChek® rollout:
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- Increased the capability, confidence, and skills of the aged care workforce
- Contributed to improved pain management practice across the aged care sector
- Improved multidisciplinary data-sharing and treatment pathways
- Contributed to broader reform outcomes to improve the quality and safety of aged care across Australia
Read more about the study here.
United Kingdom: PainChek secures agreements for 10,000 beds in care homes
In the UK, we have contracted almost 10,000 residential aged care beds, with over half already being implemented.
Avante Care and National Care Consortium are among the latest aged care providers to adopt PainChek® for use in their care homes. Avante Care will roll out PainChek® in 10 homes and 640 beds, while National Care Consortium will implement it in three care homes across its 500-bed estate. They are the first providers to adopt PainChek® through SCIP (Social Care Innovation Programme) funding — an initiative that aims to improve quality and sustainability in the social care sector.
The Scottish Government Pilot continues with four PainChek® sites to be funded and local health boards exploring further opportunities. The Gwent Regional Pilot in Wales is also underway with the majority of the funded beds taken up by providers. The results from the project will be independently validated by the Tritech Institute, a healthcare technology research venture within Hywel Dda University Health Board.
The UK-based PainChek team has attended several industry events to help increase awareness and drive expansion. These included the Care Show, Care Roadshows in London and Cardiff, Dementia Congress, Scottish Care Conference, Nursing Homes Ireland Conference, and National Care Forum CEO & Directors conference.
Progress in the US and Canada: Moving towards FDA clearance and new strategic partnerships
The US and Canada remain priority growth markets for PainChek, two key markets that together host over 17,000 nursing homes and over 1,900,000 long-term care beds.
With regulatory clearance already secured in Canada, Sherwood Care and another provider have signed for an initial 3-month PainChek® paid pilot prior to a 12-month contract. These agreements will be rolled out in Q3, following a successful integration with PointClickCare (PCC).
The software integration PCC continues, providing a pathway to more than 10,000 nursing homes and 1,000,000 residents in the US and Canada.
After a positive conversation with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), PainChek® is on track for an FDA de Novo clearance in Q4 this year. The Human Factors Validation testing has been successfully completed and a US-based clinical trial is being conducted by Donawa Lifesciences, the appointed Clinical Research Organisation, who have started recruitment of the local US-based clinical sites.
Partnership with InterSystems to bring PainChek® to the hospital market
PainChek and InterSystems are working together to deliver a unique pain assessment capability for the hospital market, bringing the PainChek technology into the global hospital market and to InterSystems global hospital client base.
InterSystems manages over one billion health records in more than 25 countries with its technology. The collaboration will improve clinical workflows, reports and care processes for InterSystems’ TrakCare EMR (Electronic Medical Records), based on PainChek® data, which will further support the clinical value of the PainChek® application in the hospital environment.
PainChek and InterSystems are working together to finalise an initial pilot with a large hospital network based in the UK.
Development of a direct-to-consumer program to commercialise PainChek® Infant & children’s products
A direct-to-consumer market program has been initiated to build awareness of PainChek® Infant & our children’s products, in preparation for the commercial market release later this year.
“A PainChek Infant direct-to-consumer market strategy is now in place to build parental demand for the technology – while continuing to generate supportive clinical evidence in readiness for a full commercial launch of PainChek® Infant in 2023.” – Philip Daffas, CEO and Managing Director, PainChek
We are also continuing to collect clinical data to demonstrate the benefits of PainChek® Infant. The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne is working with parents and children to evaluate the use of PainChek® Infant in the Emergency Department, and recruitment has begun in Europe for an infant circumcision project.
