PainChek grows number of licenced beds, triggers $1.25 million payment from federal government

Medical device company PainChek (ASX: PCK) confirmed it has met an important 25,000 licensed bed milestone under a $5 million grant agreement with the Australian federal government.

In total, PainChek achieved more than 44,000 licensed beds, which means it is on course to scoop as much as $2 million in revenue by next year.

If achieved, it would generate a 44% improvement compared to December 2019.

The government initiative will fund the use of PainChek’s “digital health technology” for residents living with dementia or cognitive impairment among a total of 200,000 residents in the Australian residential aged care market.

The milestone means PainCheck will receive a $1.25 million payment from the federal government and supplements an earlier payment of $500,000 received in December last year.

The medical device company confirmed the cash received would immediately register as revenue on its balance sheet as of this month.

The $1.75 million in total grant revenue is in addition to subscription revenues of around $200,000, the company said.

According to PainCheck chief executive officer Philip Daffas, the immediate goal in 2020 is to provide at least 100,000 aged care residents with access to PainChek and go on to generate around $2 million in contracted annualised recurring revenue in the second year of deploying its technology.

More broadly, the company intends to develop its PainChek app to become the “global gold standard” for pain assessment and management in aged care.

Checking on pain

PainChek’s app is a digital health solution that incorporates remote product delivery, online training and technical support for aged care facilities.

The app functions as a smartphone-based medical device using artificial intelligence to assess and score pain levels in real-time and update the patient’s medical records via cloud storage.

PainChek also records a short video of the person’s face and analyses the images that indicate pain and records them. The service also requires a caregiver that uses PainChek to record their observations of other pain-related behaviours to complete the assessment.

Finally, PainChek calculates an overall pain score and stores the result, allowing the caregiver to monitor the effect of medication and treatment over time.

The chosen delivery model ensures business continuity and falls in line with the revised visitation guidelines and infection control policies in aged care, brought in as a result of the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

“Of the more than 44,000 total approved beds under PainChek license, there are now more than 25,000 beds licensed and funded through this federal government initiative,” Mr Daffas said.

“These licences will be used by more than 140 aged care providers and 500 residential aged care facilities to allow their residents to gain access to the PainChek technology,” he added.

According to data supplied by PainChek, it currently manages 153 contract clients and 516 contract residential aged care facilities, which amount to an increase of 56% in clients and 36% in residential aged care facilities since the start of the year.

Concerning dementia, PainChek said total approved beds increased from 32,000 at 31 December to over 44,000 beds to-date – a 37% increase.

Until now, data gathered from the residential aged care participants in the government trial indicates that dementia patients took up 62% of the total approved beds.

Currently, PainChek is being rolled out on a global basis through two distinct phases. Firstly, the company intends to provide its services to adults who are unable to effectively verbalise their pain such as dementia sufferers.

Secondly, PainChek wants to roll out its ‘PainCheck for Children’ offering that focuses on children who have not yet learnt to speak.

This morning’s news provided some respite from the heavy coronavirus-led selling to boost PainChek shares by over 14% up to $0.08 per share.