Experts are saying that a revolutionary new bathroom product could save countless lives by monitoring our vital signs.

Each year, one million new cases of congestive heart failure diagnosed, and this product will make it easier for hospitals to monitor patients with the condition from the comfort of their own homes. A team of Rochester Institute of Technology researchers created a toilet-seat based cardiovascular monitoring system that they say will lower the hospital readmission rates of patients with congestive heart failure.

The toilet seats are able to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart. In addition, they can also monitor heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation levels, and the patient’s weight and stroke volume, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart at every beat.

“Typically, within 30 days of hospital discharge, 25 percent of patients with congestive heart failure are readmitted,” said Nicholas Conn, a postdoctoral fellow at RIT and founder and CEO of Heart Health Intelligence. He is also one of the researchers behind the toilet seat.

“After 90 days of hospital discharge, 45% of patients are readmitted – and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are penalizing hospitals for readmitting patients for heart failure,” he continued.

Conn went on to explain that the system will pick up deteriorating conditions before the patients even realize they are symptomatic. Because of this, interventions can be as simple as a drug change or short office visit, rather than having to admit someone to the hospital.

Heart Health Intelligence is currently leading the toilet seats through the FDA clearance process. In the future, should everything go as planned, they will be purchased by hospitals and issued to heart failure patients after discharge.