Each year, one million new cases of congestive heart failure are diagnosed.

Now, a team of researchers is commercializing a product that makes it easier for hospitals to monitor patients with the condition in the comfort of their own homes — a toilet seat.

Not just any toilet seat, though. This toilet-seat based cardiovascular monitoring system created by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology researchers is able to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart, and can 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. Algorithms analyze the data, and with further development, will alert advanced practice providers of a deteriorating condition. A report will then be passed along to cardiologists who will then determine if intervention is necessary.

The researchers’ goal was to lower the hospital readmission rates of patients with congestive heart failure. The toilet seats, which will be brought through the FDA clearance process by the team’s company Heart Health Intelligence, would be purchased by hospitals and issued to heart failure patients after discharge.