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AgeTech Collaborative™ participant Nonnatech is an evidence-based remote health monitoring platform designed to identify early signs of deterioration in health, to enable care teams to perform early interventions, improve care outcomes and reduce unnecessary admissions into higher levels of care, such as avoidable hospitalizations. 

Gary German, Nonnatech’s CEO, sat down to give us a glimpse into the company’s mission and products. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Please tell us about Nonnatech. 

We’re a nationally recognized, remote health monitoring and data analytics company. We’re comprised of patented and specialized monitoring capabilities, and we’re a truly comprehensive data integration platform. The system is focused on early intervention and prevention: The platform actively measures critical aspects of a user’s health, including vital signs, movements, sleep, toileting patterns and changes requiring a clinical or care intervention. The entire platform is device agnostic; we’re focused on the software and analytics. 

We specialize in using both what we call active and unobtrusive, passive monitoring technology for patients in their home. That is supported by our proprietary HIPAA-secure data analytics platform. We're differentiated in the market by our outcomes in improving a person's health and self-management; we're not just a "dump and run" technology, where we just give them a bunch of devices and technology to use — we have a full end-to-end program where we are involved with the patient from the beginning throughout the entire process. 

What do you mean by Nonnatech being device-agnostic? 

We have different kinds of kits — for example, a COPD kit and a CHF kit — that have integrated devices that work with our platform. The devices we’ve selected are all tried-and-true, FDA-approved devices. 

So if we’re working with a provider that has patients that want a COPD kit, for example, that kit includes a pulse oximeter, a blood pressure monitor, and possibly other devices. So we have different kits that have different devices that we send out. 

Please say more about the data integration aspect of the platform. 

What we do is aggregate patient data very quickly, accurately converting the data into actionable information in real time for the care team, so they can focus on optimizing resources and performing early interventions to reduce more expensive upstream care. We use different protocols such as Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular to send that data out in real time. We continue to expand our predictive analytics capabilities — for example, we are introducing machine learning modeling that will enhance our ability to contextualize the data, which will support more accurate trend changes that ultimately lead to earlier care interventions. Nonnatech’s system is focused on early intervention and prevention.

Where does the data go? 

If we’re working with the provider, the provider will let us know who they want to receive the data. The patient can decide if they also want to receive the data, or whether anyone on their care team can also receive the data. Ultimately it’s their data, so they decide. 

What is Nonnatech’s origin story? 

My mother and grandmother are my inspirations. My grandmother suffered a stroke, and she was in and out of the hospital and rehab. Fortunately, she was able to live out her days at home, with the use of our technology, and caregivers; my mother was a caregiver for her. I want to stress that Nonnatech is not meant to replace anyone on the care team — it’s there to be an additional tool in the toolbox to help the care team care for their loved ones. 

I called my grandmother “Babushka.” But my nephews and nieces call my wife’s mother “Nonna,” which is Italian for “grandmother.” And when it came time to name the company, we though that “Nonnatech” sounded a whole lot better than “Babushkatech.” 

What was your journey to becoming an entrepreneur? 

I’ve worn several hats since I graduated from university, including working in finance. But my family was involved in health care from as early as I can remember. I was a candy striper at some facilities where my father was CFO, and I also got involved in some home health care companies. My heart was always there to help create something innovative that I was passionate about and to help older adults age in place.

What unexpected challenges has Nonnatech had to navigate? 

When we started out, we focused on using unobtrusive sensors to passively monitor older adults’ activities of daily living. When COVID hit, we realized we needed to add the ability to monitor their vital signs and physiological parameters, which was something we were able to do very quickly.

We do our best to make things easier and reduce the burden for providers. We want providers to see us as their partners and as an extension of their team. We realize patient education is very important — it's a big focus of what we do from the moment a patient begins using Nonnatech.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself back when Nonnatech was getting started? 

What comes to mind is this: “Expect to ride the roller coaster. You're going to have a lot of ups and downs, good days and bad days. What’s really important is to have the right team around you, including the folks you’re working with, investors, and others who share your vision and will support you and challenge you. You can’t do this by yourself.” 

You can learn more about Nonnatech at their website.