How Wearables Startups Are Solving Major Problems in Healthcare
On this special edition of Marketing Matters, Americus is joined by Eran Ofir, CEO and Cofounder, and Dr. Charles Herman, Chief Medical Officer of Somatix. Somatix has created cutting edge technology for the health care industry in the form of a real-time gesture detection platform that utilizes sensors built into a range of wearables, as well as predictive analytics and machine learning to passively monitor, remotely track, analyze, and deliver insights and help act on massive volumes of detected gesture data.
To simplify, its technology built into a wristband or even your existing smartwatch that can tell what you are doing just by the movements of your hand. If you are eating, drinking, smoking a cigarette, or taking medication, among other actions, this information is relayed to your healthcare provider which action can be taken immediately or as a course of treatment. Not only is this technology revolutionary, but it’s simple for the end users. It works everywhere, there is no installation, and no maintenance. This technology will save lives and millions of dollars in health care costs allowing caregivers to intervene sooner and quicker.
Eran and Charles detail the background of Somatix. Somatix was launched in February 2015, went quickly through two health care accelerators (a short-term incubator for medical startups to gain mentorship, networking opportunities, and capital), completed a valid use-case, and has now developed a go to market strategy.
Eran and Charles note their initial target market will be to serve those in need of elderly care. Launching in Q1 of 2019 is SafeBeing, a wristband (or software installed on an existing smart watch) that can passively remote monitor an elderly person’s ADL (Activities of Daily Living) – routines with which they typically require no assistance, such as eating, drinking, dressing, walking and medication intake. SafeBeing captures these ADL’s, amounting to around 500,000 data records per day per person. The data is analyzed, insights are generated, then sent to the person’s caregiver. In addition, SafeBeing can detect variations in the ADLs, such as a fall, wondering (via GPS), or inactivity, and report these incidents in real time to caregivers for immediate action.
In addition to serving the elderly community, Somatix has developed a smoking cessation platform called SmokeBeat, and has expectations to serve discharged patients with higher risk of readmission and home care patients in the future.