One in four Americans ages 65 and older will fall this year. Every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall. Not only are falls the leading cause of death in this age group, they are the most common cause of non-fatal, trauma-related hospital admissions. Besides the incalculable human costs, the financial burden of fall injuries exceeds $50 billion, most of it shouldered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Eleven years ago, Deepak Gaddipati’s grandmother fell, broke her hip, and died within ten days of the injury. After her tragic death, Gaddipati dedicated himself to learning why no one had recognized her as a fall risk. He discovered that often older adults aren’t considered a fall risk until after their first fall—which too often is too late.
In true entrepreneurial fashion, Gaddipati founded VirtuSense Technologies to develop a tool that could proactively identify and measure fall risk in older adults. Its first product, VSTBalance, used artificial intelligence and machine vision to do precisely that. The system launched in 2013.
The following year, VirtuSense CEO David Park’s father died suddenly from a blood clot at the age of 71, despite routine doctor’s visits. Like falls, many heart attacks and other potentially fatal conditions are also preventable, Park explains. “Our mission is to provide clinical insight in advance to you and your physicians so that you can be safe while living a better and healthier life.”
Today, VirtuSense is empowering proactive care for hundreds of organizations across the United States, from hospitals to long-term care to home health. Its portfolio of solutions has expanded to include VSTAlert, a predictive patient monitoring platform to reduce bedside and chair falls; VSTOne, vitals monitoring and telehealth, built on top of the VSTAlert platform; and VSTConnect, a telehealth platform for therapy and resident care. Set to launch later this year, VSTHome will offer continuous, 24/7 monitoring of vitals for older adults and discharged patients in their own homes.
As sales have grown nationwide, VirtuSense now has 1.5 million hours of machine learning data to back up its message. Having added key members and decades of industry experience to its management team, the company is poised to play an instrumental role in the next wave of healthcare innovation.
“Today we’re in hospitals and nursing homes making a real difference in how people age and helping them live longer, more comfortable lives,” Park explains. “Tomorrow our products will play a role in everyone’s lives. From hospitals to nursing homes to daily living at home—artificial intelligence is the future of healthcare and we’re helping to shape it.” virtusense.ai PM
