Join us for a conversation with Hamed Tabkhi and Mona Azarbayjani, as we explore how ForesightCares is transforming the future of aging with AI-driven mobility insights for older adults, caregivers, and clinicians. We'll dive into AVA Mobility, their AI-powered, at-home mobility awareness and wellness platform that makes movement screening simple, accessible, and proactive. Trusted by independent living communities and valued by everyday consumers, AVA Mobility helps people stay informed, confident, and independent.
Hamed Tabkhi and Mona Azarbayjani, Foresight Cares. Winners of the Charlotte Innovation Day Pitch Competition
Janae Sharp, Founder, The Sharp Index
00:00:00 Intro: Welcome to Digital Health talks. Each week we meet with healthcare leaders making an immeasurable difference in equity, access and quality. Hear about what tech is worth investing in and what isn't as we focus on the innovations that deliver. Join Megan Antonelli, Jenny Sharp and Shahid Shah for a weekly no BS deep dive on what's really making an impact in healthcare.
00:00:30 Janae Sharp: Hello everyone and welcome to Digital Health Talks. I'm Janae Sharp. I'm the founder of Sharp Index, a nonprofit dedicated to improving clinician mental health. And I'm also the co-host of Digital Health talks with Megan Antonelli. And today, I'm thrilled to sit down with the winners of the Charlotte Innovation Day Pitch competition. And they are going to share some of their story and their vision behind their company. And they are the team behind Foresight Cares, a startup rethinking how we approach mobility, fall prevention and everyday movement through visual assessments and guided interventions. And I loved their work. And falls are one of the leading causes of injury, especially for older adults, but also impact clinicians, caregivers and patients across the continuum. What I found exciting about Foresight Cares is how they're combining technology, movement, and science and accessibility to bring proactive care into your homes. So I would love if you could introduce yourself to our audience. Tell us about your company, where you came from, maybe your past lives, how things are.
00:01:37 Mona Azarbayjani: Sure. Hi, my name is Mona Azarbayjani. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Foresight Cares. Uh, my expertise in human centered design and I worked with Hameed for several years. Uh, how we started was that his expertise was in the AI and, um, uh, in artificial intelligence. And I was, I had my, My father went through the knee replacement surgery and he wanted to see between the visits how his mobility is changing and how he's improving. Uh, so I was talking to him saying that there is no such a tool that can, uh, can monitor and also look at the data and the progress data. And he said that with a visual assessment, that's his expertise. And he has been doing several projects. Uh, he said, we can do it. So that's how we started.
00:02:34 Janae Sharp: Awesome.
00:02:35 Hamed Tabkhi: Hi, my name is Ahmed Zaki. I am CTO and co-founder of Foresight Cares. Have been fortunate to work with Mona and the brilliant team that we have. Uh, our company is based on Charlotte, North Carolina. We have about ten employees, uh, working with talented people from AI, human centered design, AWS system engineering, data collection, and validation. Frankly, Mona and I are the face of the company. We have a large group of talented people that actually carry the company and do the actual work.
00:03:10 Janae Sharp: I love that recognition of the team is important. So let's dive into fall prevention.
00:03:15 Mona Azarbayjani: So we want to we decided to start a company to change this this whole cycle from the. Instead of waiting for the fall to happen, being proactive and, uh, be able to close the loop of the assessment and provide some real time feedback to the older adults, what are the areas they need to work on?
00:03:37 Janae Sharp: Yeah, like so does it assess some of the decline as well with those assessments or.
00:03:43 Mona Azarbayjani: Yes. So with the with the CDC based on the CDC guidelines, which is a aligned with that, a study test, we assess their, uh, balance, the gait, their strength. And as they do the assessment, we can also monitor how they are doing over time.
00:04:04 Janae Sharp: Awesome. Awesome. So tell me more about this idea that most prevention solutions are reactive. Like how did you go from that to the importance of everyday movement instead of just like recovery or high risk or how do you know what's important?
00:04:24 Mona Azarbayjani: It's a great question. So forty, as I said, forty percent of the older adults are at risk of falling, but only a very small number of them do that risk assessment before it happens. So this was that the moment that that kind of that there is a gap and we wanted to change that process and being proactive. So we understand that how people are performing so they can be assessed over time. And we can understand that that gradual changes and that degrades that is happening. And measuring that in their own environment where they are, where the older adults are.
00:05:08 Janae Sharp: Right? Oh, that's nice in their own environment because that's where most falls happen. And also when you go to the clinician and all those, all those things are seen in a certain environment. It's not really the environment that you live in. So that, that inspired you to, to make the change and to make this company. So you use visual assessment for everyday movement. And I don't know, tell me what that means in practice.
00:05:36 Mona Azarbayjani: Um, I do want to say.
00:05:37 Janae Sharp: That that's you. That's our technology question.
00:05:41 Hamed Tabkhi: Sure. Well, um, so, uh, the key innovation here is performing intelligent processing on the phone or iPad. So basically our AI leverages, you know, existing building cameras in your iPad or iPhone and whatever processing powers you have. So it. On the fly it analyze the motions and analyze the gait. Balance the strength of older adults on their phone. And it focuses on CDC study test, which is a stuttering falls and injuries in older adults. So basically the key innovation here is let's automate CDC study, test and make it accessible and affordable to everyone at their comfort. Uh, and also respect privacy. And it's very important for acceptance of the technology. So rather than having, you know, surveillance cameras or storing information and sending them somewhere else. Uh, the technology works more in an on demand based approach. Anywhere, anytime. It does not mean continuous. It means that you can use this system and this app anywhere, anytime at At your own comfort and without the need for any external hardware. And it just analyzes your motions and give you a fall risk score that can be then used for proper, you know, follow up or prevention practices.
00:07:20 Janae Sharp: I like that. Um, how does it use AI? Like, is it AI helping people, helping with the simplicity or helping with accuracy? Um, question what role, what role does artificial intelligence or computer vision play in that, if any?
00:07:41 Hamed Tabkhi: Yeah. So the artificial intelligence definitely play a big role, but it's not everything. Um, as you see with recent advances in AI.
00:07:51 Janae Sharp: Right. Can we quote you for a second? You gotta look at the camera and be like, it plays a role, but it's not everything. Right.
00:07:58 Hamed Tabkhi: Exactly. That's actually it's, uh, every day we realize it more and more. While at the beginning this company started as a AI based company. We realized that AI is just a small piece of what we're building. And a lot of that, uh, is about access, transparency, trust, and user experience, right? And I really like to emphasize on the user experience part, which actually is Mona's expertise. And she can talk in days and nights for you about that. But the key idea is how we build something that design with and for older adults, right? And there is a really lack of user experience research, especially when it comes to technology and AI, how to interface that with older adults and empower them and building a system that they can trust and use it. Uh, I would say that that's the biggest value of the company. And that's the biggest factor that helped us to scale and achieve that and maximizing our reach at an extremely low cost.
00:09:11 Janae Sharp: I like that. Let's talk about that a little bit more when we're talking about who we're designing for an older population, you know, there are some stereotypes about older populations. Anyone who's helped their dad set up a phone, which my dad's good at that stuff, but not all dads are. So are not all dads theme. Like, how does that work for a company where you're trying to use technology to help that age group? Are you, are you seeing any barriers in terms of engagement or utilization or, you know, what, what, what's the magic trick here for a technology company for how to make that effective?
00:09:50 Mona Azarbayjani: Yeah, the engagement is actually a key. It it's if you ask too much and they like and don't, don't give back, that's going to be a problem. So what what our Ava created is that Ava is asking very little. It just takes a few minutes that it to basically to do the assessment. And then it provides all the adults likes to have like paper, for instance. So it sends you a PDF of the based on your assessment, here's like what you need to do, areas that you need to work on. So it's not giving you a score that you don't know what that means. It's basically, it's giving you a specific feedback. This is what we noticed in your balance, in your gait, in your analysis, and here's how you can address it.
00:10:43 Janae Sharp: I like that people love to see how they're doing. People love specific directions. I also am thinking about when you said that, how does that that assessment and how does your technology fit in with the care team or with clinicians? How do you see that integrating into workflows?
00:11:02 Mona Azarbayjani: I do want to take that.
00:11:03 Hamed Tabkhi: Sure. Ah, um.
00:11:05 Janae Sharp: You know, because people want to know if it's going to give them more work.
00:11:08 Hamed Tabkhi: Yes. So one, one thing that we are very excited and it's more about the business side of it is, uh, uh, at the end of the day, people and clinicians and in this case, specifically pets and physical therapists or occupational therapists, those are the people that need to promote this app, needs to encourage the older adults or their patients to use this app, this app, and work on their fall prevention. But the challenge is and has been is there is not enough incentives for fall prevention practices. And one key is lack of integration. So the current healthcare system designed for rehab, basically the, the billing mechanism, the, the reimbursement, all of those incentivize falls.
00:12:05 Break: You're listening to digital health talks. When we return, we'll continue our discussion on how technology is revolutionizing healthcare delivery. Stay with us to hear more insights on creating sustainable, patient centered digital health solutions.
00:12:24 Hamed Tabkhi: I'm not saying that right.I mean, kind of Medicare.
00:12:27 Hamed Tabkhi: Core is code. Codes are responsible for faults, but they are focusing on fall cause rehabs, you know, post surgeries. Uh, so what Ava has tried to achieve, and we have been extremely fortunate because in the last two years and specifically this year, we see significant changes in the Medicare and CMS, especially when it comes to RTM remote therapeutic monitoring codes, that they started to award PTS for fall prevention practices and giving them reimbursement. Uh, however, there is no app or technology to drive as a vehicle. These policies and enable parties to benefit from this new reimbursement codes and, uh, increase the quality of the care. At the same time, getting compensated for their prevention practices, uh, rather than waiting for faults. So Ava provides that. And as part of that, uh, of course, integration into EHR systems is essential, which we are working on as well as the billing mechanisms is important. Uh, which, uh, Ava is about to support both sides of integration. So we are, we, we are hoping and we are quite confident about it that, uh, it's not going to disrupt the BTS or Pcp's, you know, current care flow rather than it, it helps them and it helps them to actually tap into new reimbursement code and change their business models from full reaction to fall prevention. And that's what I guess that's what federal government and CMS and Medicare are hoping for. And Ava, in my view, is the first vehicle for these new policies.
00:14:19 Janae Sharp: That's great. Like for them to actually promote better health. Let's talk about outcomes. What are you excited about? What's going great? What have you seen?
00:14:30 Mona Azarbayjani: The best outcome that we are very excited about. Is that fall never happens. But through the the some of the pilots and some of the, the work we have done, we see that the the fall risk has been reduced by forty percent in the kind of the communities, the communities that we have done. So we are we are hoping that every all those like three million or four million adults, older adults, that they see the air every year. We we are we are hoping to prevent those that that are inevitable. We can reduce those, uh, those events. And at this point, the decline of that, uh, between the first assessment and the last assessment that we have looked at over four months shows forty percent reduction. It's not just because of Ava. It's that also because that they have been seeing those progress over time and the, the areas that they need to work on. And they have, uh, they have been participating in all of the exercise programs that their community is providing. So this is like a kind of like everybody's work that they, they can see what are the areas they need to work on. And then let's just get that into the routine.
00:15:53 Janae Sharp: Yeah, it makes it easier to, to comply, which is, which is something that's important from their perspective. Where's the, the aha moment? When do they realize that this is valuable, both clinicians and patients, what have you, what have you seen? What are people like? Yeah, you guys are my favorite.
00:16:15 Speaker 6: Oh yeah. I feel that I'm Mona.
00:16:17 Hamed Tabkhi: I'm actually curious to know what is what is your perspective on this? Uh, for me, the aha moment it first was when we can do objective assessment, you know, it's consistent, right? It's not subjective, right? You're not eyeballing things, which is the state of the art right now. Um, and the second part, which happens recently when you see, you have thought of a technology two years ago, you spent the last two years to develop that and a product. And then the new policies coming from federal administration are amazingly align and support what you have designed as. It's an aha moment for us. It's really the best validation you can get from your products.
00:17:07 Janae Sharp: Right? When that's the direction people have noticed that it should be going. What do you think?
00:17:13 Mona Azarbayjani: I mean, I agree with what you said about the aha moment and also like as a like a children. So because that's kind of how we started is that you can also, I think that the person or the patient can see how their progress over time. That's where they are like very happy about the product is that there's no such a tool that you can see how you're progressing over time. So my dad went through the knee replacement and he wanted to see between the PT visits, how they're how he's progressing his, uh, kind of like motion and the such a tool can give that objective data instead of being subjective. But like, you know, you can see he's improving, but how what, how do we measure that? We measure that progress Or in other case, how do we measure the mobility is declining. So I think that having that that tool is very exciting for not just the PT but also the users.
00:18:18 Janae Sharp: Mhm.
00:18:20 Hamed Tabkhi: Uh, if I may add something more, I actually forgot about it. I guess we're gonna you're gonna share this with me too. Uh, initially, uh, we were thinking of, uh, designing, you know, those passive monitoring surveillance cameras to achieve this goal. But but we were really worried and concerned about privacy, hardware cost, access. We felt that, oh, my God, this project is going to be very expensive. Going to be too much logistics to ship cameras and then install it. And then what about the privacy concerns? How do you build a trust? And then, uh, I remember, uh, one day we were brainstorming with Mona and we felt that, well, why we don't put everything into what they already have, which is their phones and their iPads. It has the camera, it can do information processing. Nobody has done that yet at the level we are doing. And I feel that from the product design and development, that was definitely an aha moment for a company that changed the trajectory, you know, by a big margin.
00:19:31 Janae Sharp: Yeah. You don't have to remake the technology or the hardware that already exists.
00:19:35 Hamed Tabkhi: Exactly.
00:19:36 Janae Sharp: I like that, and those are the things people already know how to use them.
00:19:39 Hamed Tabkhi Yes. And everybody have them, you know, so it's not that we and we could really reduce the cost and increase the access. And that's what we really care about it.
00:19:50 Janae Sharp: Yeah. Decreasing costs, making things more accessible, making it so people follow their plans. Let's talk about the future. Like where you're going from here. What does the future look like for you? Is this something where we're talking about how, how this will change mobility, aging or tell us.
00:20:12 Mona Azarbayjani: The our kind of like our vision is that that regular mobility assessment and screening becomes a routine. And that's like similar to like that blood pressure that you go to the doctor for your PCP and they do the blood pressure and all that. This becomes something that we're shifting everything to towards that prevention, and also that all the adults, they can change those changes in their mobility early so they can stay active and they can live independently for longer time.
00:20:48 Janae Sharp: Yeah. And um, when that success, what would that success look like at scale? Would it be that everyone does that like in every EHR and you, you know, or, or do you know yet?
00:21:02 Hamed Tabkhi: I would say Maybe not the ultimate success, but the one that we are definitely moving toward Is it saying that for me, success is. We have a sustainable business model across fall prevention. So if we create this full chain support and encouraging PTS and clinicians and pcp's to do more fall risk assessment, of course it would be great for health care system. But at the end of the day, it's a sustainable practice that can, you know, pay itself and increase the quality of the care and overall reduce the costs because we're going to have less falls. For me, that's the success.
00:21:44 Janae Sharp: Yeah. The success is fewer falls and more people living healthier, longer lives. I love that. So you just won this competition. What should we be waiting for? What's next? More competitions, more winning. Where will we see you next?
00:22:01 Mona Azarbayjani: Yes. More peaches. We are also. If we trying to, like, get this to the hands of the users. So that's we are doing a you know, we are attending these conferences that for the older adults and the, the caregivers are joining the PT conferences. We are doing more pitch. And those are what we are doing right now and in the next couple of months.
00:22:30 Janae Sharp: Awesome. All right. Well, thank you both for, for your work and for sharing your vision and for being part of the Charlotte innovation community and part of digital health talks family. And to everyone watching, if you care about the future of digital health and if you care about reducing falls and prevention, we hope you check. Check out our friends and we're looking forward to watching this space closely. Thank you for being part of digital health talks.
00:22:59 Mona Azarbayjani: Thanks for having us.
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