Chia-Lin Simmons, CEO of LogicMark - LGMK, was recently a guest on Benzinga's All-Access. LogicMark is a leading provider of personal emergency response systems (PERS), health communications devices and IoT technologies to create a connected care platform. Its products help keep at-risk populations – young and old – safe. Ms. Simmons spoke about the extensive lineup of medical safety devices LogicMark offers for seniors at every level of care.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hey Zingers, it's Dan Leach and I have a wonderful guest for you today.
00:05It is the CEO of LogicMark, a NASDAQ company in the personal safety and health tech industry,
00:11Shailen Sivit.
00:12So great to be with you again today, Shailen.
00:14It's good to see you again, Dan.
00:16The pleasure and honor always mine.
00:18Let's start off with just, you know, giving everyone a brief overview of what LogicMark
00:21is all about.
00:22Yes, Dan.
00:23LogicMark is in the business of what I call personal safety for everyone.
00:28So we historically have been known as a company that produces medical alert products, or PERS
00:33as we call it in the industry, which basically provides sort of the health and communications
00:38products for somebody who has fallen classically, that I've fallen and can't get up business.
00:43And we've expanded our business to cover also personal safety for everyone with devices
00:47that will allow somebody as young as an eight year old to sort of utilize a product down
00:55to sort of a, you know, a 28 year old going on a Tinder date.
00:59So yeah, so it's a really big sort of area to cover.
01:04That's one in four Americans who's 65 and over, as well as almost everyone, 54% of Americans
01:10who are afraid of walking near their home within a mile at night.
01:14And so that's men and women as well.
01:16Well, let's talk about accessibility.
01:18How does accessibility play a role in how you develop products?
01:23Absolutely.
01:24We think about accessibility or what I would call basically human centric sort of product
01:28focus as a core tenant of what we do as a business.
01:33And so we really try to place our customers at the center of everything we do.
01:37We develop our products with them in mind.
01:39So for example, the question of accessibility, we are always really careful and thoughtful
01:46about when we produce, for example, hardware products that we've done in the past, as well
01:50as now, that there are buttons that are actually great for people who might have sight impairment,
01:54for example.
01:55Your hearers use a lot of like audio prompts to basically help those who are hard of hearing
02:01or have, you know, have sort of more concerns about sort of hearing.
02:09And it's very, very loud so that actually they can get help when they need it.
02:14You know, one of the major things that people talk about is how loud the battery reminder
02:19to recharge is.
02:21And it's mainly because oftentimes, you know, we realize that some of our users are, you
02:26know, their hearing is not as good as it used to be.
02:29And so we actually produce products that actually keep that in mind.
02:32So but really the major, major part of, you know, when we think about sort of accessibility
02:38or human centric product development is, you know, things that are, I think, less apparent
02:43than that.
02:44So let me give you an example.
02:46When we look at things such as file detection, oftentimes, you know, in the past, we've developed
02:52products that require a push of a button.
02:55And so that really implies that you actually are conscious of when you actually have an
03:02emergency.
03:04We know that that is not true at all in every instance.
03:07And so, you know, automatic file detection is important for us.
03:10And so a lot of our patents are tied around multi-sensing, you know, file detection, because
03:15we know there's a high likelihood that if you fall, you might hit your head or you might
03:19have a stroke and you're unable to push a button.
03:22And so we're trying to ensure that not only do we have file detection, which I think needs
03:27to be given into this industry, but secondarily, that it doesn't have a lot of false positives.
03:32So you sort of will turn that off or it becomes not available.
03:37One of the other things is from sort of a human-centric development point of view, and,
03:42you know, I would say it's, you know, part of accessibility is understanding and being
03:47able to predict what's going to happen.
03:49And so we really are very keen on trying to get to predictive analytics so that we don't
03:53have to really even think about that at all, that our technology is, I think they call
03:59it hyper-personalized to you in the future.
04:02I believe Arianna Huffington and the Thrive team has, you know, gotten together with Open
04:09AI to develop what they call hyper-personalized AI and health wellness care.
04:16And let's be candid, that's what we've been working on for the last three and a half years
04:19here, right?
04:20And so we think that that's really part of, you know, development for the future.
04:24You really want to work with companies and technology companies that actually has a hyper-personalized
04:29focus, accessibility for everyone, and thoughtfulness about sort of human-centric development.
04:35So that down to the point for even those who are not elderly, for example, our Astra product,
04:41which is personal safety for everyone, we've even thought ahead, right, that, you know,
04:45if you're an 18-year-old coming from the library at 12 o'clock at night, you are not going
04:49to remember to, like, start your safety app, right?
04:52This isn't just how people think.
04:54We really have to get into the psychology of what the customer looks like and say, look,
04:59you know, you're tired.
05:00You're not going to remember to turn these things on.
05:02So all you have to do for a product is have it registered on your phone and you have the
05:07little button.
05:08And if you have the little button, then you don't need to do anything but actually use
05:11it for emergencies because who's going to have time from a usability and accessibility
05:16point of view to, you know, open your phone during an emergency while fending off the
05:21bad guy, right?
05:22Let me unlock my safety button, you know, and call somebody for safety.
05:25And this is pretty big.
05:26I'm, you know, I don't think I'm a small woman.
05:29And it's a very hard thing to grip and try to, you know, fight off somebody and push
05:33this five times or 10 times, however Apple wants you to do it.
05:36But what you can do is have this very close to you.
05:39And it's as small as an AirTag, you push it three times, and your app doesn't have to
05:43be on and draining your phone.
05:45So to us, when we think of accessibility, we think about it in a very broad perspective
05:49so that we can actually provide that for everybody who uses our product.
05:54Yeah, that little button, as you mentioned, makes a massive, massive difference.
05:57It's just awesome stuff.
05:58I know, Charlotte, you just secured approval to provide devices through Medicaid in several
06:03states.
06:04Congratulations on that.
06:05It's a big deal.
06:06Can you walk us through what this program will look like?
06:07And what kind of opportunity is this for Logic?
06:10Yeah, no, that's a really great question.
06:12So, you know, assuming everything goes well under the new administration, you know, we
06:20certainly hope that, you know, programs continue and serve people.
06:27Under sort of the Medicaid programs, many, many states also generate their own funded
06:33by the federal sort of government, but it gives everybody an opportunity who's elderly
06:37to use a Medicaid program to actually utilize that program cost to basically not pay for
06:47or have it being paid for the sort of monthly fees that's associated with using one of these.
06:52I think there's a very strong push for everybody, including those who are elderly, 90% of them
06:58want to age at home.
07:00And so aging at home is a difficult process when you don't have the support that you need.
07:04And so actually having a device is actually very, very helpful.
07:08And so once you get into sort of a Medicaid program into a state, it allows for like those
07:15organizations in the state, including the Councils for Aging, retirement communities
07:21to basically help the elderly apply for the program and get basically the monthly costs
07:26paid for through the program.
07:27So we think it's a big win for those seniors who are looking to age at home.
07:32And it certainly gives independence.
07:34And most importantly, it doesn't, people think about Logic Mark and the products that we
07:39create as, wow, like, why would you want to cover that in Medicaid, like it's not a health
07:43program.
07:44Well, these things, it's really important to remember, we really are, I think it's important
07:50to sort of want to save on health costs.
07:54What's really important about medical products like ours or medical products like ours specifically
08:00is that we actually get the seniors help within the hour of their sort of emergency.
08:06If we don't get help within the first hour, what's called the golden hour medical terms,
08:10then your health outcome is worse, which means that we're using our healthcare to basically
08:15treat more and more symptoms.
08:18And so because your health is worse, you're going to spend more money in healthcare overall.
08:23And that's sort of detrimental to everybody.
08:26So the best outcome we really all feel like we need to have is be able to have this available
08:31and get people help within the hour so that their health outcome is better and we don't
08:34use more and more health insurance and everybody's health outcome is better.
08:39And so we really are very bullish about actually getting these into states.
08:43It's a very, very difficult process.
08:46In the state of California, for example, we don't just apply to the state.
08:49We actually apply to, I believe it's like 30 plus counties individually as well.
08:55In some cases, you know, I think in a state of Ohio, you actually have to go there physically
09:00and apply every year and do credit checks.
09:03I think personally, like I think for me, criminal and credit checks as a CEO.
09:09And that's fantastic, right?
09:11Because this is really what you want to see so that there's no people trying to utilize
09:14these programs for fraud and those types of intentions.
09:18And so, you know, again, we're rapidly working towards getting as many states covered as
09:24possible.
09:25It states there's always a level of, you know, application process that's in place, but we
09:31are moving very quickly on this and, you know, hopefully able to bring this to senior so
09:35they can actually help defray some of the monthly costs.
09:38So that's very exciting stuff.
09:40And so is this as well.
09:42Your next generation Guardian Alert 911 Plus just launched.
09:47What is new with this version, Shailen, and what kind of sales are you open to generate?
09:51Yeah.
09:52So, you know, this is very exciting for us to sort of share.
09:57And it mainly has to do with the following because we, when I took over this company,
10:00we had a suite of legacy products, which really includes, you know, the Guardian Alert 911
10:06Plus.
10:07And so, you know, this is a button that you push and all you have to do is push it, but
10:11that's all it does.
10:12It basically pushes that and takes you to 911.
10:15And we created this product initially, and it was a very innovative product at the time
10:19because every other product that basically you have to have a subscription.
10:23And so we understand that not everybody is in an economic, you know, sort of situation
10:28to be able to sort of afford personal safety.
10:31And so when this was created, it was with a thought that basically there are people
10:35who can't afford month to month sort of subscriptions.
10:39And so there you go, you know, you get help and safety, you bypass a call center, do all
10:44of those things, takes you straight to 911 and that's fantastic.
10:48And so, but subsequently, as you know, I'm a big, big believer, you know, in actually
10:52having a personal safety for everybody.
10:55And that means also every economic level.
10:57And so the idea generally have been that like, well, we'll just sort of continue with our
11:01legacy product, but we're not really content as a company and a technology company to sort
11:06of leave things as it is, just because you, you know, don't have the time to basically
11:13do our new fangled product.
11:15That's a little bit more expensive on a monthly basis.
11:17And it's monthly and has all the sort of bells and whistles and all of those things that
11:20go along with it.
11:22Doesn't mean that you should have a product that doesn't evolve and isn't sort of up to
11:26date.
11:27And so really the new Guardian on the 911 plus is evolution of this particular product.
11:33The form factor is actually much smaller.
11:35It's so new that I actually don't have it in my hands to show you right now.
11:39That it's the it's a very small, it looks like our it's actually the same sort of footprint
11:47as our, you know, top selling mini product.
11:51It has a button because people love their buttons.
11:54But most importantly, it still doesn't have a recurring monthly.
11:58We really want to hold on to that so that, again, we have accessibility for people who
12:02may be on fixed incomes and don't really want to deal with monthly charges, but it now has
12:07fall detection because we recognize that, again, people are in multiple sort of health
12:14situations where it may not afford them the capability to push that button.
12:19And so we really feel like it's important to do that.
12:22And so one of the promises I made when I came to this company was that, you know, we were
12:27going to keep a portfolio of products that was actually going to continue to evolve.
12:33And our goal was to get better and bring, you know, newer technology and evolve the
12:37technology forward.
12:39So this is an evolution to sort of, I think, signal to the shareholders that this is actually
12:44not, you know, our heritage products are not dead, right?
12:48They are ever evolving technology.
12:51And that's important because Gardner 9-1-1 Plus is one of our top selling products.
12:56And so it's one of the top selling products for a very long time.
13:00People love the idea of not being able to, you know, have to deal with and think about
13:03the monthly recurring billing.
13:05And so we think that the addition of this particular sort of capability to basically
13:10have fall detection as well is actually going to help us sell even more units as well.
13:16And, you know, again, we think of this as evolution and a portfolio product that's an
13:21evolution.
13:22So, you know, there might be, you know, as people are sort of evolving through their
13:26sort of, you know, age at home sort of situation, we see more and more people migrate from this,
13:32you know, sort of 9-1-1, less bells and whistles product as their needs evolve and evolve into
13:39something like this.
13:40Because today, they're most likely to have like, you know, a smaller one of our products.
13:45And then, you know, I also have a cell phone.
13:49But as you get older, we understand that, you know, these things become heavier.
13:54The phones don't get smaller.
13:56They actually end up getting bigger and bigger, and they're more complex to use.
14:00Every time I go to Apple store, I'm reminded of that because, you know, you hear a lot
14:05of people trying to purchase items that are for their aging loved ones.
14:09And the aging loved ones don't know how to use the Apple Pay.
14:13They don't, you know, the Apple sort of like newfangled things, all the apps, right?
14:19You know, even from a study perspective, when I was working at, you know, Google Android,
14:22we know that people use less than 35% of the apps.
14:27And that's even on a like MAU basis, monthly active user basis, which means that on a DAU,
14:33daily active use basis, it was even lower, right?
14:37So you kind of lean on like one or two apps, maybe five at most.
14:41And so they're not really active app users.
14:44And so it becomes really like cumbersome.
14:47And so they don't want to carry this anymore.
14:50You know, our competitors have products that look even bigger than this and uglier than
14:55this.
14:55And so they're like, I don't want to do any of this.
14:57And so they're just unprotected.
14:58So our goal is to just basically try to get people to think about, like, maybe at the,
15:03you know, as you get more involved into your journey and aging and aging at home, you just
15:07want to evolve into one product.
15:10It's a cell phone.
15:11It's a PURS device.
15:12If you fall wearing one of these, and you're passed out, the fire detection will kick in.
15:20Like just like our new Guardian Alert 9-1-1 Plus.
15:24But your family could actually use, you know, their apps and say, oh my gosh, you know,
15:29an emergency triggered for SMAX that my mom is wearing.
15:34And so let me sort of peep in through the camera from the Mac.
15:38Oh my gosh, I'm seeing like what looks like something on the ground.
15:42So mom definitely needs help.
15:44Oh, 9-1-1, the 24-7 monitor service is already called 9-1-1.
15:47You know, let me get there as well.
15:50And so I think that we tend to think of, and we talked about accessibility, we tend to
15:55think about our customers, you know, journey with us.
15:58And it's not static.
16:00You know, you could start off with a, you know, with the active senior on this product.
16:04They're going hiking.
16:05Everything's fine.
16:06And they have these products, you know, and they're actively going out.
16:09They're telling their friends, you know, hey, I'm going on a hike.
16:11If I don't contact you at 10, you know, like text me.
16:16Right.
16:16And it will automatically text you and we'll check in and say, like, you're doing hiking
16:20at 10 and you're supposed to be home.
16:22And are you okay?
16:23We don't respond.
16:24We send people to you.
16:25We can see this evolution of the very active senior using this product to maybe saying,
16:31yeah, I still have this, but I'll just wear a smaller version of one of these products
16:36and it should be okay.
16:37To, you know what, I'm just tired of like doing this.
16:40Like it's huge.
16:41So I just want to like have something small.
16:44Right.
16:44So we hope and it's our desire to basically be part of every part of the journey of a
16:51person as they're aging and looking at personal safety.
16:54And hopefully, you know, a 24 year old who's using this product will be with us for a very
16:59long time.
17:00And as she's going through her aging journey, hopefully, you know, she will pick up one
17:05of these or maybe pick up one of these for their eight year old, because there was no
17:10apps.
17:11Right.
17:11And, you know, it has GPS, geofencing.
17:14So your kids not running them up anywhere.
17:16It's funny how like a lot of people love this and they've been talking about FA maps for
17:20their children.
17:22So you're helping so many people.
17:26And it's quite an amazing thing.
17:28So another one of the best to you going forward.
17:30Charlotte Sim is the CEO of Logic Network.
17:32It was absolutely a fascinating conversation.
17:35Thank you so much for joining me today.
17:37Thank you, Dan.