Phoenix-based Healthcare Outcomes Performance Co. has acquired MyACTome, a Valley startup that created a smartphone-based fall risk detection platform.
MyACTome provides a personalized assessment of a person’s fall risk and how it may change over time. The technology is based on decades of research and validation by Thurmon Lockhart, a professor of biomedical engineering at Arizona State University.
"MyACTome has evolved from a heartfelt wish to help loved ones retain autonomy facing increased cognitive and mobility issues,” Lockhart, senior scientific advisor at MyACTome, said in a statement. “Through our extensive collaboration with the WearTech Center and industry experts, we were able to focus on prioritizing preventative treatments, merging individualized care with innovative MedTech solutions.”
HopCo, one of the nation’s largest musculoskeletal health care management companies, plans to integrate MyACTome’s fall detection platform into its digital patient outcome tracking platform, providing real-time information to clinicians, according to a company release.
“This acquisition adds another innovative technology to our digital patient assessment and analytics tool kit to positively impact patient safety and outcomes," Marc Jacofsky, chief scientific officer at HopCo, said in a statement. "By leveraging innovative solutions like MyACTome, we are better able to measure and improve function while engaging patients, leading the way toward consistent improved outcomes for thousands of patients.”
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
MyACTome among WearTech Center cohort of companies
MyACTome, founded in 2023, is among the WearTech Applied Research Center's third cohort of companies.
MyACTome received backing from the Arizona Commerce Authority via the Partnership for Economic Innovation and the WearTech Center to accelerate product research, development and testing, all of which led to the HopCo acquisition.
Lockhart’s idea for MyACTome’s technology was sparked by a desire to help his father, a World War II veteran who struggled with falling as he aged. Lockhart created the Lockhart Monitor, a smartphone app and wearable device that detects instability and predicts the likelihood of a future fall, alerting the user or a caregiver.
Validation of the Lockhart Monitor was funded as part of the WearTech Center's first cohort in 2021, leading to an introduction to Jocofsky of HopCo., Lockhart said.
MyACTome offers assessments that evaluate postural stability and gain speed to provide data about a person’s balance and fall risk. It uses accelerometers and gyroscope sensors in smartphones to track movement patterns, record changes over time and compare those results to others in a similar age group.
Seniors, in particular, are most vulnerable to falling because of a reduction in muscle mass and balance issues associated with medical conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and multiple sclerosis, among others, Lockhart said.
The WearTech Center, at Park Central in midtown Phoenix, is a public-private partnership between PEI, ASU and the state government. It launched in 2019 with a mission to expand the wearable technology ecosystem in the state.
As part of the acquisition, Lockhart will continue to work on MyACTome’s technology with plans to develop additional devices to further measure muscle activity and improve MyACTome’s fall detection rate, which is around 87%, he said.
“We are incorporating other systems like (electromyography) to improve it to about 95% to 97%,” he added.
