The retirement-aged baby boomer population coupled with the push to reduce healthcare costs is driving technology to support the aging-in-place trend. It’s seen as a cheaper alternative to nursing homes and preferable for many seniors who don’t want their lives disrupted. Yet, there’s a need to balance this with certain tools to minimize the risk of falls, which increase hospitalization costs and complications. Gait analysis, as a way of evaluating and tracking neurological conditions and the effect of certain drugs to estimate fall risk, has been around the clinical side for years. But healthcare startups like Tactonic Technologies see applications for the consumer market.
In an interview with MedCity News, Tactonic Technologies CEO and co-founder Gerry Seidman said the company plans to launch IntelliMat to help caregivers remotely monitor loved ones. It uses pressure sensitive floor tiles embedded in a mat and transmits data through the cloud to families. The idea is to have a passive tracking technology so that users forget it’s there unlike, say, a doctor’s office. It would be placed under a rug in a high traffic area, like between the bed and the bathroom.
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Families could get spot notification if there is a decline in how users are moving, affected by conditions such as arthritis, joint weakness and Parkinson’s disease. They could use the information to encourage the use of a walker or another alternative before they injure themselves with a fall. The company predicts it will be priced around $200 and will be available on its website.
The company sees the technology as a way for healthcare organizations to do remote monitoring as well. If it were covered by insurance it could make the device more widely available. One likely use would be for post acute care analysis.
“We’re not inventing a new analysis but a new modality,” Seidman said. “We think our technology in the area of high performance, high resolution data will be potentially available to doctors as well as consumers. Whether that’s a winning proposition, we’ll see.”
