In 2014, a group of nurses, physicians, data scientists, and computer scientists from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor began exploring the possibilities associated with a data set developed by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research that made it possible to simulate hemorrhage activity on otherwise-healthy volunteers. This group – the genesis of the technical team at Fifth Eye – sought to build out that concept to create a novel medical product that could continuously forecast patient trajectory and provide doctors and nurses a warning about impending catastrophic health events hours – even days – ahead of time.

With the support of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Program, Fifth Eye evolved the technology into AHI System™ medical device software that could be deployed in hospitals.

AHI, or Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability, was developed using artificial intelligence, or supervised machine learning, to predict hemodynamic risk that can lead to acute decline in clinical status. Using real-time, continuous ECG lead II data feed, AHI automatically performs a series of advanced signal processing analysis, extracting HRV patterns that indicate a patient’s hemodynamic status.

HRV, or Heart Rate Variability, measures the variation in time between heartbeats. HRV is controlled by part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It serves to automatically regulate tasks including our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion. The ANS provides information to the brain which continually responds to stress and emotions as well as to persistent instigators including illness or disease. When patterns in the HRV reflect a decompensating or deteriorating physical condition, it becomes apparent in the AHI analytics.

AHI can determine if a patient is hemodynamically stable or unstable in less than 10 minutes, and then provides clinicians anywhere in the hospital with a continuous trend that is updated every two minutes.

HRV was established as a window into the ANS in the 1960s, but it took technological advances in signal processing, ECG devices, machine learning, and cloud computing to make AHI possible. Fifth Eye discovered how to extract hidden HRV patterns for real-time measurement, simplifying the output for easy clinical interpretation. 

The significance of the ability to see and interpret HRV is as historically meaningful as the invention of the pulse oximeter – a potentially lifesaving device that, thanks largely to the COVID era, is now in homes around the world. Just as clinicians knew about blood oxygen but had no way to quantify it, we have long been aware of the compensation mechanism of the ANS but unable to tap into it as a vital sign until now.

• Avoid adverse events
  When Rapid Response or Code Teams can target patients in advance, they have time to plan and intervene prior to deterioration, avoiding a costly crash crisis.
• Improve patient throughput with informed care-level downgrades
  When hospital staff are confident in transferring patients to lower levels of care, they can reduce bouncebacks; free up high-cost, high-demand ICU and telemetry resources; or transfer/discharge patients altogether.
• Better allocate valuable clinical staff resources and avoid nursing burnout
  Limited resources can be directed to high-acuity patients, and workload can be more equitably balanced among the nursing and clinical team.

In a survey of 400,000 nurses in early 2022, more than one-third (34%) of nurses said it was likely that they would leave their roles that year, 44% citing burnout and a high-stress environment as the reason they wanted to leave.  (Fierce Healthcare, March 2022) 

AHI System lets nurses direct their focus where it can have the most impact. AHI is simple to install, learn and use, so it can be put to use immediately, giving the nursing team a bird’s eye view of their entire unit. The stress of missing critical symptoms or unchecked signs of deterioration is alleviated.

¹Internal analysis on file

Yes. AHI is a HIPPA-compliant, cloud-based solution with HITRUST security protocols.. 

AHI works on a single, noninvasive ECG lead II, displaying patient status updates every two minutes from anywhere in the hospital. There are no manual inputs, no new hardware and is easy to learn and use immediately.

Yes. In March 2021, the company was granted FDA De Novo status to market AHI in the USA.

Yes, peer-reviewed evaluations of AHI and the clinical data supporting its FDA clearance have been published in a variety of journals including the American Heart Association; Critical Care Explorations; and the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology.