By Chris Fleck

ARC Devices, a medical technology company in Boca Raton, is changing the way we monitor body temperature and other vital signs with a new wave of digital, infrared, no-touch thermometers.

Today’s standard thermometers require patients to be touched or probed in order to get a temperature reading. ARC Devices’ thermometers don’t.

Instead, users place the thermometer an inch from the patient’s forehead, above the eyebrows and between the eyes, and click a button. The patient’s temperature appears on the device’s screen, which includes an indicator that shows green if the patient has a normal temperature, orange if warm but not fully feverish, and red if the patient has a fever.

Because there’s no bodily contact, it helps minimize the risk of spreading infection when used on multiple patients.

For home use, ARC Devices is marketing its InstaTemp thermometer on ARCdevices.com and through retailers such as Target.com and Amazon.com for about $40.

For clinical use, the InstaTemp MD is more sensitive and has a larger processor, designed for hospitals and medical providers to read core body temperature – the gold standard of temperature measurements. It uses a proprietary sensor that, unlike analog systems, does not require calibration. This means it will remain consistently accurate over the life of the device.

ARC Devices was founded by Irwin Gross, Amos Alter and Jaap Elzas, all neighbors in Boca Raton. Together, they loved the idea of non-touch thermometer technology and decided to invest in developing the technology and business together.

Their journey – and the journey of their company – is deeply rooted in Boca, where the U.S. operation is headquartered. The company has used other local resources, such as Florida Atlantic University, to support research and software development.

ARC Devices also is partnering with Citrix Systems of Fort Lauderdale to demonstrate how the Bluetooth-enabled thermometer can integrate with Citrix’s Workspace Hub as an “internet of things” device. This would allow vitals data to be collected and securely entered into electronic medical records systems along with patient and provider information.

Such a partnership would improve productivity and reduce chances of human error. A prototype of this system recently was demonstrated at a conference for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, where it attracted attention from numerous hospital and health care organizations.

With the revolutionary technology and vision, coupled with the ongoing partnerships, ARC Devices is a company to watch – not only in the South Florida area, but nationally and internationally as well. ↵

Chris Fleck is on the board of the South Florida Technology Alliance and vice president of emerging solutions for Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS), a Fort Lauderdale company that provides secure delivery of applications and data.