When I sat down recently with Texas Health Fort Worth CEO Joseph DeLeon—consider that your not-so-sly teaser—he said an interesting thing I couldn’t quite find space for in the resulting piece. He said that trauma resulting from short-distance falls are the highest-growth type of ER visit they see. That relates, of course, to the aging population. It also presents a problem the open market is, in various forms, trying to solve.
Take the Fort Worth company MedHab, which has an alert system geared at seniors that adds a little bit of FitBit flair. Meredith McGrath recently profiled the company’s wearable tech for Dallas Innovates:
Fatal falls are increasing in the U.S., according to data from a CDC study released in May.
The report showed fall death rates in the U.S. have increased 31 percent from 2007 to 2016 for older adults. In 2016, a total of 29,668 U.S. residents ages 65 and older died as a result of a fall, compared to 18,334 deaths in 2007.
“We’re all going to fall. It’s just a matter of time,” co-founder and CEO of MedHab Johnny Ross said. “But, if we can mitigate that greatly, then that’s a real accomplishment.”
