Reducing Barriers, Improving Access: Key Learnings from the MED-EL Remote Care Multicenter Trial

As demand for cochlear implant (CI) services continues to grow, clinics face increasing pressure to deliver timely follow-up care while managing limited clinical resources. MED-EL’s Remote Care platform extends access beyond the clinic, enabling recipient-led device management, reducing excessive in-person visits, and creating more flexible pathways for clinical care.

With the HearCare app, patients can perform system checks, troubleshoot, and securely store their processor settings in the MED-EL cloud, making it quick and easy to load their settings onto a replacement processor.*

Clinicians can use Remote Care in MAESTRO to receive and send data to the patient’s HearCare app synchronously or asynchronously, allowing clinics to streamline their unique workflows and save valuable time for patients and providers.

Multicenter Clinical Trial Overview

To evaluate the real-world impact of MED-EL’s Remote Care platform, a multicenter study was conducted across five CI centers in the US and Canada, capturing user feedback as well as potential time and cost savings. Participants used the HearCare app independently and also engaged in a Remote Care visit with their clinic.

Across participating centers, MED-EL Remote Care and the HearCare app demonstrated meaningful benefits for recipients, families, and clinicians, helping to:

• Accelerate access to clinical expertise
• Reduce travel burden and out-of-pocket costs associated with in-person visits
• Empower patient and family led-device management
• Support care for recipients unable to consistently provide reliable feedback
• Improve clinic efficiency and capacity for high-priority needs

Participant Ratings of HearCare Application

Twenty-nine participants, aged 2-79 years, completed HearCare System Checks remotely. Participants or their family responded to a user survey.

Patient & Parent Usability

HearCare demonstrated high usability across a diverse participant group. 90% of participants were able to complete HearCare System Checks independently, while 85% reported high overall satisfaction and ease of use. Participants frequently described greater confidence in management of their equipment and navigating device-related concerns between clinical visits:

“I absolutely feel more confident in taking care of my equipment.”

“Everything was easy to understand and implement.”

Time & Cost Savings

For many families, cochlear implant care requires substantial travel and personal expenses. Participants lived an average of nearly 70 miles from their CI center (range 4–165 miles), with 90% residing more than 25 miles away. Attending an in-person visit often requires time away from work (up to 48 hours, average 7.5 hours) and out-of-pocket costs (average $259). These findings highlight the potential for HearCare to reduce travel demands and financial burden for many CI users.

“This will save a tremendous amount of time… this app could potentially save me a very long trip.”

Faster Access to Care

Participating clinics reported an average wait time of 4.4 weeks for in-person appointments.

In contrast, most Remote Care requests were initiated, completed, and reviewed within 2 weeks, suggesting that MED-EL’s Remote Care platform can help clinicians address device and programming concerns more quickly while reducing reliance on scheduled visits.

HearCare stores a user’s program settings to the application, reducing clinical burden by allowing patients to program their own replacement processor…

“If something breaks down… they can more quickly send you ready to wear replacement equipment.”

…or revert to previous settings without the need for an in-person visit.

“With the previous configurations secured within the HearCare app, they have the ability to switch back without making an in-person appointment”

Unique Impact for Pediatric Families

HearCare System Checks provide objective information on internal and external device functionality, offering reassurance for families of young children who may be unable to describe device-related problems. A parent of a two-year-old described the reassurance HearCare provides:

“The HearCare app gives us peace of mind. With a busy two-year-old who can’t always tell us what’s wrong, this tool helps us know when everything is working as it should.”

Clinicians also acquired access to critical information from their pediatric patients that was previously unattainable in clinic:

“I was able to use Remote Care for a patient who is resistant to having the processor on their head… It gave both me and the family peace of mind.”

Clinician Ratings of MED-EL Remote Care Platform

Clinicians across sites reported high satisfaction with the usability and potential workflow benefits of the HearCare app and Remote Care in MAESTRO.

Accessibility & Broad Device Support

Broad backwards compatibility and the option for asynchronous functionality of Remote Care leads to increased patient access. Clinicians remarked on key benefits:

• Rapid and reliable transmission between recipient and clinic
• Broad compatibility of HearCare and Remote Care across MED-EL internal devices dating back 30 years, allowing access even for long-term recipients*
• HearCare System Checks offer a more accessible way for patients living in remote areas to monitor their devices.

Benefits to Clinical Efficiency & Evolving Workflows

Remote Care allows clinicians to review patient data in just minutes, freeing up valuable clinical time to address more needs remotely, or prioritize more urgent needs in-person.

Remote Care tools support emerging models of flexible postoperative care, offering an option that can reduce the need for scheduled in-person visits when appropriate.

Looking Ahead

Findings from this multicenter study suggest that MED-EL’s HearCare app and Remote Care in MAESTRO can help expand access to CI care while reducing burden for patients, families, and clinics. Through independent device management, streamlined troubleshooting, faster access to clinical expertise, and delivery of broad backward compatibility with MED-EL cochlear implants dating back nearly 30 years, HearCare will ensure that the benefits of remote care are accessible to more recipients while supporting efficient, patient-centered care.

Learn more about MED-EL Remote Care applications:

MED-EL Remote Care: Supporting CI Patients Beyond the Clinic Visit | Hearing Health & Technology Matters

Smart Audio Processor Backups & More: Unlock 6 Benefits of MED-EL Remote Care and the HearCare MED-EL App – MED-EL Professionals Blog

*HearCare MED-EL app is compatible with PULSARCI100, SYNCHRONY, MED-EL CONCERT, SONATA series implants used in combination with a SONNET 2, SONNET 2 EAS, RONDO 3, or later generation audio processor. For smartphone compatibility information, go to the HearCare MED-EL page.