Raphael Thys
Augmented Intelligence (AUGi) unit from Inspiren and Maplewood Senior Living. (Image courtesy of Maplewood Senior Living)
A six-month pilot program using artificial intelligence recorded 400 resident fall “saves” in one senior living provider’s memory care residents.
Maplewood Senior Living used AUGi (Augmented Intelligence) — a platform co-developed with Brooklyn, NY-based technology company Inspiren — in 33 memory care units at its New York City luxury assisted living and memory care community, Inspir Carnegie Hill.
AUGi is a cognitive resident care assistant that acts like an extra set of eyes in at-risk resident apartments, allowing caregivers to respond quality to potential or actual safety issues, such as falls. The technology often can notify staff members before a fall occurs, allowing them time to intervene and prevent it from happening, according to Maplewood Chief Clinical Officer Brian Geyser.
Stick figures overlay blurred images of residents and caregivers in the Augmented Intelligence (AUGi) program to maintain privacy but still allow insight into what’s happening in a resident apartment. (Image courtesy of Maplewood Senior Living)
The platform consists of a wall-mounted automated sensor system that uses machine vision, artificial intelligence and behavioral, environmental and digital data to passively observe resident and staff behavior while maintaining privacy through HIPAA-compliant images and video. It can detect sleep patterns, resident mobility issues and general room activity.
The system is mounted on the wall, plugs into a power source and connects to Wi-Fi.
“What it allows us to do for the first time is we have visibility into the apartment of our most vulnerable residents,” Geyser told McKnight’s Senior Living, adding that the system uses machine vision to turn a video feed into something a computer can understand.
Before AUGi, staff members had no visibility into at-risk behaviors inside resident apartments, Geyser said. The system provides real-time insight into a resident’s needs as well as immediate review if a fall or other event occurs.
The system uses biometric analysis to identify objects in the room as well as the resident and individual staff members. The system also collects data on which staff members are entering rooms and how frequently, and how much time they spend with residents — all of which feeds into an analytics dashboard that creates an intensity score to inform care needs and staffing decisions, Geyser said.
Staff find technology ‘indispensable’
Geyser said he was impressed by Inspiren CEO Michael Wang, a former hospital clinician who developed the AUGi technology after witnessing adverse patient events — including falls — caused by human error. Geyser served as a consultant to the company on how the technology could benefit the senior living industry, eventually launching a pilot program within Maplewood’s Inspir building.
During the Inspir pilot, AUGi prompted 400 staff interventions with its 33 memory care residents. Residents were chosen for participation based on fall risk, nighttime behavior and mobility levels.
There is no cost to residents to use AUGi right now. Geyser said that the provider already has seen significant positive return on its investment in terms of staff efficiencies. He added that the staff adoption rate on the technology is 98%. The technology augments physical rounding — which can be labor-intensive and disruptive to residents — with virtual rounding, allowing staff members to scroll through video tiles of resident apartments to identify needs or potential problems.
“Staff find it an indispensable tool at this point,” Geyser said, adding that the mobile app allows real-time insight and visibility into resident apartments.
Based on the success of the program, Maplewood Senior Living is adding another 30 AUGi units at Inspir Carnegie Hill, and at another location in Connecticut soon. The provider also will partner with the Hunter College School of Nursing to study the effects of AUGi on resident safety.
To further assess the technology, Maplewood is planning to test a similar fall detection technology from SafelyYou in the coming months to compare fall prevention outcomes with AUGi.