How AI Is Helping Predict and Prevent Senior Falls

It’s a frightening and far too common scenario: One in four Americans age 65 and older falls each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These accidents, which comprise 2.8 million injuries, account for an emergency room visit every 11 seconds. Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury for this population, numbering more than 27,000 deaths every year.

No family wants to envision the scenario, even a minor one. After all, older adults often face a tough recovery, and they may avoid social engagements or exercise due to fear of falling again.

Falls also come at a substantial cost — $50 billion in 2015, with Medicare and Medicaid taking on 75 percent of the expense — one the CDC forecasts to reach $67.7 billion by 2020.

Imagine if you or your loved ones could have some advance notice.

That is why I’m encouraged by a growing pool of applications leveraging data and artificial intelligence to better predict a person’s risk of falling. In fact, fall prevention and detection accounted for nearly 40 percent of the $4.5 billion global smart home healthcare market in 2017.