SOTI MobiControl aims to prevent injury and save billions

Falling is a common, yet overlooked cause of injury, particularly among adults over the age of 65 – around 1 in 3 people over this age fall at least once a year, and half of these will experience falls more frequently than this. 

As well as the distress this causes to the person, it costs healthcare systems billions each year, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimating that 37.3 million falls each year are severe enough to require medical attention, costing somewhere between $3600 and $1000 per person.  

In an attempt to remedy this, global tech company HAS Technology Group is deploying SOTI MobiControl in its wearable medical devices, with the aim of reducing the risk of falls in the elderly population, and thereby lowering associated costs. 

ARMED (Advanced Risk Monitoring for Early Detection), one of HAS’ solutions since 2016 and a registered medical device, uses wearable technology to collect key metrics associated with frailty and the risk of falling. It monitors the patient’s condition 24/7, and then uses this data to feed into its machine learning models. 

The SOTI MobiControl solution allows ARMED to help escalate risks in advance and create triggers for a quicker and more accurate diagnosis to happen, based on the early warning signals the data provides. 

The ARMED platform extracts data from smart watches. With a customized SOTI MobiControl application operated from a smartphone, the smart watch is paired with the phone via Bluetooth, and data is transferred from the watch to the phone. 

This data is captured, and machine learning algorithms are applied to forewarn of medical issues and changes in the behaviour of elderly patients. This advanced warning can also help healthcare practitioners to prioritise resources accordingly. 

“ARMED is now a registered medical device and this step, along with machine learning, is significantly contributing to understanding the longer-term impacts of health and lifestyle changes in a more preventative manner” Brian Brown, Director ARMED at HAS Technology Group said. 

“We are excited for the future with SOTI and making a huge difference to the quality of life for individuals.”