Present fall prevention system responsible for major portion of $20+ billion/year cost of falls

Our present fall prevention program isn't really about prevention - it's about treatment. 30-40% of all falls could be prevented. Our new product replaces the physician's scale and identifies patients with balance problems in 60 seconds.

30-40% of all falls could be prevented" American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Almost any medical professional can tell you how to prevent falls, using a multi-disciplinary approach," said Bob Henderson, President of Vestibular Technologies, but since we all know how to prevent falls, and we've known how for decades, why do we still have a $20+ billion dollar per year problem thats getting worse every year? The obvious answer is that the present system isnt working."

The present system uses a purely reactionary paradigm that only swings into action when patients complain to their physicians. There are two major problems with that reactive only" approach. The first is that it causes too much pain and suffering and wastes money because often nothing is done until the patient has already fallen and broken a hip. By then, its really too late. And the present system causes too many unnecessary referrals to specialists and too many expensive diagnostic tests such as MRIs."

The second problem is that older patients dont complain to their physicians, either because they dont realize they have a problem, or they dont remember it or they are afraid to complain. So because patients dont complain, their physicians cant react. Thats why the new Guideline adopted by the AGS, BGS and AAOS puts the burden on every physician to regularly identify and assess older patients for risk of falling. The Guideline recognizes what we have been saying all along -- that you cant help them if you dont know who they are," Henderson said.

Thats where our CAPS system, HistoTRAK focused patient history and new practice paradigm all fit in," he went on. Implementation of our new, proactive program, which incorporates our own version of the universally favored multi-disciplinary approach to fall prevention, will make a dramatic difference in the number of falls in this country."    
                              
The CAPS replaces the scale in a primary care physicians office," Henderson went on, making it possible for the physicians staff to generate a report with a patients age, sex, height, weight, body mass index and stability/balance score in less than 60 seconds. Then for any patient identified as at-risk" by the CAPS, the accompanying paradigm makes it easy for physicians to get the information they need to choose the most appropriate clinical pathway for that particular patient."

Our multidisciplinary model has all the essential elements: early identification with the CAPS; a comprehensive assessment that includes a detailed, focused patient history (using our intuitively easy HistoTRAK software); an audiometric exam; a physical evaluation; and a visual acuity test (also done with the CAPS). And it allows physicians to accomplish all this with only a minimal increase in their workload."
                                                                                                    From the primary care physicians perspective, our model allows them to easily implement routine falls risk assessment into their practice, to retain control and management of their patients and to be fairly compensated for the care they provide. In fact, we estimate an extra $5,600 per month in income for a physician who is now seeing just 20 patients per day," Henderson continued.

Other benefits of the model are that the cost of patient care is really no higher; it makes effective use of independent or staff audiologists and physical therapists by getting them involved in the initial assessment of patients; it minimizes the use of costly diagnostic tests such as MRI; and it helps ensure that specialists like otolaryngologists and neurologists see the difficult and complex cases where their expertise is really needed."
                                                 "One more thing," Henderson added, our new paradigm makes it possible for most physicians to have the use of a CAPS system without having to buy or lease it."

Persons interested in more information or in receiving a *.pdf copy of VTIs New Practice Paradigm and Patient Flowchart should email info@vestibtech.com. Also available by email is an auto-calculating file that lets physicians easily calculate the income they could generate by using a CAPS in their particular practice.