In the rapidly evolving landscape of elder care, technology is playing an increasingly crucial role in enhancing the quality of life for seniors. Sensi.AI, a pioneering company in the field, is at the forefront of this transformation. By leveraging advanced AI and audio technology, Sensi.AI is addressing the pressing challenges faced by home care agencies and caregivers, ensuring that seniors receive the care they need in the comfort of their own homes.
We had the opportunity to speak with Romi Gubes, Co-founder and CEO, Sensi.AI about the inspiration behind the company’s creation, how their innovative technology is reshaping elder care, and the profound impact it has on both caregivers and seniors. In this insightful interview, Ms. Gubes shares her personal motivations, the unique capabilities of Sensi.AI, and the company’s vision for the future of senior care.
What inspired the creation of Sensi.AI, and how does your technology address specific challenges in elder care?
Four years ago, I had an unfortunate experience with my daughter while she was at daycare, which uncovered a severe case of abuse. My daughter is okay, but the event changed my life.
This is when I decided to devote myself to supporting vulnerable populations, focusing specifically on senior care. I quickly realized the growing gap between the demand for senior care and the limited supply of caregivers. It became clear that this gap wasn’t just a challenge—it was an opportunity to transform the future of care through technology.
Ninety percent of older adults want to age at home, according to AARP. Yet, a study by MissionCare Collective found that 89 percent of care providers have had to turn people away because of the ongoing workforce crisis. Home care agencies across the country are struggling to balance providing exceptional care with scaling their operations effectively.
That’s where Sensi comes in. Sensi provides 24/7 care intelligence and assessment using audio technology with highest level of precision. This tech gives home care businesses a complete, 360-degree understanding of a senior’s physical, emotional, and cognitive needs, driving significant growth and efficiency.
Sensi’s care intelligence solution delivers crucial insights into senior health, enabling timely interventions and personalized care plans. This helps scale quality caregiving, reducing hospitalizations, strengthening caregiver-client relationships, extending length of service and ultimately, allowing seniors to stay in their homes longer. Our AI identifies over 100 types of critical insights, from early signs of pneumonia and UTIs to cognitive changes and emergency events like falls.
I love it when I hear from our customers how Sensi has helped shift them from reactive to proactive care. And there is nothing else like it when I hear stories about how Sensi – along with care teams – is saving lives.
Can you explain how your AI system detects subtle changes in seniors’ environments, such as breathing patterns and movement?
Sensi offers an always-on virtual care assessment using 100 percent audio technology through our plug-and-play care pods. These pods detect care anomalies using our HIPAA-compliant AI technology, and the data is analyzed to provide valuable insights for home care agencies, accessible via desktop and mobile apps.
Our technology first establishes a personalized baseline for each older adult. For example, some may speak louder due to hearing difficulties and might keep the TV on at a high volume, or the acoustics of their home might vary. We consider all these factors to create a specific baseline, allowing our technology to understand the individual’s routine.
This personalized approach enables us to predict potential health issues for each older adult. For instance, Sensi can predict the onset of pneumonia by detecting changes in health trends over time, such as increased coughing.
How does Sensi.AI’s real-time monitoring improve outcomes for elderly clients compared to traditional care methods?
Early in our journey, we realized that most senior care technology on the market requires intervention from the older adult—like pushing a button or wearing a device—which often isn’t effective, especially in panic situations when they tend to forget. It’s even worse when the senior is a dementia patient. To detect subtle changes and provide comprehensive care, we developed a solution that continuously assesses without relying on the senior to take action. That is something our customers and their senior clients and families really appreciate about our technology.
Also, in the traditional model, agencies often wait for a health episode to occur at which point their client ends up in the hospital, gets discharged, receives care, and then it’s a waiting game until the next episode. It’s reactive and not very efficient.
Sensi “flips the script” with proactive technology, helping agencies craft care plans that are better tailored to each individual. This approach ensures smoother, continuous service, even when a caregiver isn’t around. Sensi adds an extra layer of support and insight into the senior’s condition.
For seniors, this means more consistent, personalized care that truly meets their needs. Sensi’s care data and insights also enhance communication across the board—not just with clients and their families, but also with caregivers and key stakeholders like nursing homes and physicians.
In what ways does Sensi.AI contribute to reducing hospitalizations and preventing adverse events in home care settings?
We’re facing a dire challenge with the shortage of caregivers, and it’s driving up costs to the point where many older adults simply aren’t getting the care they need. Home care has become so expensive that a lot of people are hitting a financial glass ceiling, and as a result, too many are left alone in their homes, vulnerable and at risk.
This lack of care leads to more hospital visits, which drives up the overall cost of care even further. People are caught in a cycle of going back and forth to the hospital, dealing with issues that could’ve been prevented if someone had been there to catch the early warning signs.
That’s where Sensi comes in. We step in to reduce these risks by alerting care providers to specific dangers as early as possible, especially when no one else is around. Just to be clear, we’re not trying to replace caregivers—technology opens doors, but it’s humans who make things happen.
Sensi’s technology is constantly looking at how soon it can spot a care-related issue. Sometimes, Sensi picks up on issues before the older adult even knows something’s wrong. Take cognitive decline, for instance—if we can detect it early on, you can implement safety measures in the home to prevent falls. When confusion or disorientation starts to creep in, it’s crucial to know right away so you can step in and prevent bigger problems down the road.
How does your system ensure privacy and compliance with regulations like HIPAA while monitoring seniors 24/7?
From the outset, Sensi.AI was designed ground up with the utmost emphasis on privacy. Sensi is deeply committed to safeguarding patient privacy and ensuring the security of Protected Health Information (PHI) by adhering to HIPAA compliance standards.
To achieve this, Sensi encrypts data both in transit and at rest, uses multi-factor authentication, and employs role-based access controls to secure sensitive information.
We also employ top-notch security measures such as mobile device management and network segmentation, along with secure physical infrastructure, to protect PHI from unauthorized access and cyber threats. Plus, Sensi follows the “Minimum Necessary Standard,” ensuring that only the necessary PHI is collected and used, while also employing data anonymization techniques to further protect patient privacy.
Educating our customers about how our technology works is a big priority for Sensi. Building trust is essential, so we’re always open to any privacy-related questions and happy to address them.
Our audio-based technology has a key privacy advantage. Unlike intrusive video surveillance, our audio tech only picks up on care-related sounds through our proprietary AI. It focuses on specific sounds or patterns that signal a need for intervention, rather than recording every movement. As a result, seniors feel more at ease, knowing their privacy is protected while still benefiting from advanced care assessments.
Families are seeing Sensi’s care co-pilot as an extended family member who never takes a day off.
Could you share some examples of how Sensi.AI has helped caregivers respond more effectively to emergency situations?
Sensi acts as a crucial safety net, helping care agencies respond quickly to emergencies. I think it is best if I can just share a story directly from one of our customers.
This example highlights how timely intervention from caregivers can be pivotal in emergency situations.
“We had a senior living with her 61-year-old daughter, who also had health challenges. Sensi alerted us when the senior fell at home, and the caregiver was able to assist her in a timely manner. We discovered she had developed a UTI. The caregiver promptly got her antibiotics, and the senior was soon doing well again.
It so happened that the senior’s daughter, who suffers from seizures, had an episode. Sensi detected and alerted me. I immediately instructed the caregiver to check on her, and since the caregiver was trained to handle such situations , she was able to help the daughter.” – Bob Nations, CEO of Senior Helpers.
With the recent $31 million Series B funding, what are your immediate plans for product development and market expansion?
Sensi is on a mission to ensure that every senior can age with dignity in the comfort of their own home, the place they love most. Our efforts are focused around unleashing growth, productivity, and purpose for home care agencies. This funding from renowned investors will help us continue to innovate our product and scale our go-to-market strategy, bringing our vision to life.
How does Sensi.AI address the issue of caregiver burnout and turnover, which are significant challenges in the home care industry?
Yes, caregiver burnout and turnover is a big issue. Caregivers are sent into the most intimate environments with seniors who can be difficult at times. And burnout happens when they are not well trained or matched appropriately on compatibility with the seniors – triggering them to quit their jobs.
Sensi’s offers a way to get the best fit between clients and caregivers. Sensi provides insights on caregiver-client dynamics, enabling coordinated responses and optimal pairings.
But that’s not all. Sensi gives agencies insights into caregiver performance, so outstanding work doesn’t go unnoticed. This exceptional recognition keeps caregivers motivated and demonstrates appreciation for their hard work.
We know caregiving can be tough, and Sensi gets that. Our platform can spot when clients are resistant or difficult, giving agencies a better understanding of what’s going on and helping them support their caregivers more effectively.
If disputes or misunderstandings come up, Sensi provides an unbiased account, cutting through the “he said/she said” confusion. This helps protect caregivers from false accusations and gives them peace of mind.
Sensi also helps identify specific training needs, so agencies can tailor skill development for caregivers. This means caregivers can keep growing and improving, which in turn enhances the quality of care they provide.
We also have Teepa Snow, well-known dementia educator in the healthcare industry, on Sensi’s advisory board. We partner with her to offer her educational videos to help agencies and caregivers. She has observed that “Sensi’s ability to detect signs of cognitive decline is nothing short of revolutionary. Sensi allows agencies and caregivers to be forward-thinking and proactively plan and provide better care.”
Can you discuss any partnerships or collaborations Sensi.AI has established with major home care providers and how these have impacted your growth?
We’re grateful for our strong partnerships with home care providers. Sensi’s technology is making a real impact, helping them tackle major industry challenges and elevate the quality of senior care. We’re proud to be working with 80 percent of the major home care networks across the U.S.
Additionally, agencies are able to drive significant growth by meeting broader senior market needs and attracting referral partners, like hospitals, who value the unbiased data Sensi provides for timely intervention and reducing readmission rates. Agencies report greater efficiency in how they allocate their time. Overall, these partnerships have led to increased satisfaction among seniors and their families, extended home life for older adults, and a better experience for caregivers.
What our customers think?
Bruce McReynolds from Griswold Home Care in Greensboro, NC, said: “You can put a price on saving someone’s life. Sensi is more than technology – there is a heart behind it.”
Jeremy Altman from Equinoxe LifeCare said: “What I really love about Sensi for my clients is that there’s nothing they need to do. No camera, no charging, no button to press. Senior clients love that it’s a lot of ‘no, no, no’ for a big ‘yes’—yes, I feel okay; yes, I feel safe.”
Susan Kahlau of Visiting Angels in Mountaintop, PA, shared: “I’ve been tracking my rehospitalization rates for about four years now. I’ve seen it decrease even more since we’ve been with Sensi.”
It’s not just seniors who trust Sensi but also the families. Susan Kahlau of Visiting Angels in Mountaintop, PA, said: “I can tell you that families are very appreciative when we do bring the changes in their condition of our clients and our environment to their attention because obviously the goal of the client is to stay at home as long as possible. And that’s how Sensi helps us along with our Visiting Angels’ caregivers”
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