Older adults deserve more from media when it comes to scams

Who do you trust? Rant on. A long WSJ article details how trusting people can be and why robocall scams work.  A woman listened to a voice mail message saying that it was the FBI and that her identity had been stolen. (That was the first and only robo-dialed call).  When they spoke, the caller told her to turn over all savings, further telling her not to tell anyone about his step-by-step instructions as to where to move the money, nearly $340,000. Why did this 60-something oncology nurse listen to this caller over a several-day period?  Why did she agree to stay in a hotel for two days while the money was in motion?

The Journal article title misleads. “Robocall Scams Exist Because They Work”.  No, actually, WSJ headlines work even if the article is about something else.  That something else was a character sketch of a spectacularly naïve and vulnerable woman.  Why did she never tell any family member, including her husband, about it until the money was gone?  According to the article, it was because of a psychological phenomenon -- a ‘habitual reliance on people in authority.’ 

Something is worrisome about this – it’s the reporting.  Note that the median loss in a robocall scam is $700.   The amount of robocall fraud is dropping – but the number of reported imposter fraud calls is growing – 46,000 reported in May.  But even with that statistic, this particular case is a spectacular outlier, not an indicator of growth of either robocall or imposter scams. Consider the amount, the time and steps involved, the secrecy she agreed to, all at the behest of someone who said he was from the FBI. Shame on the Wall Street Journal for positioning this poor vulnerable, albeit highly educated person with terrible judgement as an example of why robocall scams work.   Rant off.

category tags: 

fraud protection

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/older-adults-deserve-more-media-when-it-comes-scams

Five new health and caregiving technologies November 2019

LeadingAge in San Diego and more.  Entrepreneurs clearly see the opportunity for providing tech-enabled services to help care for older adults.  Large events like Leading Age, Argentum, and sub-events within CES and HIMSS all point to the business potential that draws startups as well as new offerings from existing players – in what may become an increasingly crowded market. Here five recent announcements, two from the Startup Garage at Leading Age in San Diego -- adding three others from recent press releases.  All information is drawn from the websites of the companies themselves.

Curadite. Curadite empowers patients, clinicians, caregivers and family members to work together to improve medication adherence with the support of our intelligently linked, proactive medication management platform. With Curadite’s MMP, healthcare providers and loved ones have tangible evidence that medication is being taken as prescribed. With the addition of data analytics, visualization and alerts, our cloud-based dashboard and reporting system supports healthcare providers. Learn more at Curadite.

Echo care-tech.com. (LeadingAge) EchoCare, founded in 2015, has developed the Elderly Care Home Observer (ECHO) system, a unique sensing system for the care of the elderly during their stay at home.  ECHO uses a unique and safe radar which alerts an emergency operator or caregiver automatically after situations such as severe falls, heavy breathing due to distress, prolonged lack of movement, as well as keeping track of the user’s daily activity and recording any indications of a deterioration of health. Due to being non-wearable unlike many other systems on the market, senior citizens can benefit from ECHO without having to worry about remembering to switch on, charge and wear a smart device. Learn more at echocare-tech.com.

RemoteHomeCheck.  (LeadingAge) Watering the plants. Turning off all the lights at night. Locking the doors––these are just a few of the daily tasks an aging loved one faces. But are they struggling? How would you know? Everyone needs a little help now and then, and with Remote Home Check you can remotely check in on a loved one and provide assistance from home––whether you’re across the street, or across the world. Bring simplicity to your life. Learn more at RemoteHomeCheck.

Omcare (LeadingAge) Ōmcare is far more than a pill sorting system with self-reported validation. With three issued patents and more pending, Ōmcare’s in-home remote dispensing and integrated care monitoring will drive a new way to measure adherence and set a new standard for care coordination that is simple, safe and easy to use. Ōmcare links remote dispensing with video confirmation such that every dispensing event is directly observed and confirmed. Caregivers know immediately if a dose is missed or incorrectly administered.  Other smart pill dispensers and mobile compliance apps depend on self-reporting rather than direct observation. Ōmcare’s approach will change how the industry measures medication adherence. Learn more at Ōmcare.

Orbita Assist. OrbitaAssist is an award-winning, voice-enabled, AI-driven bedside virtual health assistant. This solution offers an alternative to traditional nurse call systems. Using a smart speaker configured with OrbitaAssist, the patient can say things like "tell the nurse I need a pillow," or "tell the nurse I've fallen."  Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning operate on the backend to triage, prioritize, and intelligently route requests to appropriate care team members who view requests on mobile, tablet, or desktop devices. Then, the patient hears a natural language response such as "someone will bring you a pillow soon," or "we've raised an alarm with the nurse." Learn more at OrbitaAssist.
 

category tags: 

healthcare, Boomer-Senior Tech Business, home health care

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-new-health-and-caregiving-technologies-november-2019

Technology Can Help Make Medication Management Smarter

Medication non-adherence – it’s serious. This medication non-adherence (not filling prescriptions or missing dosages) is a major health issue – resulting in 10% of hospitalizations, 125,000 deaths, and costing the healthcare system up to $300 billion/year.  Consider that 1 in 5 Medicare patients are re-admitted to the hospital within 30 days after discharge – half of them because of medication non-adherence. In a study by Walgreens, researchers found that every 1% improvement in adherence saves about $50 in healthcare spending.

My cousin took meds from as many 20 different bottles. It was nerve wracking watching her pick up a bottle and study the label before taking a pill.  It was clear that this was a complex regimen required for her multiple health issues. Fortunately, she was alert enough to be careful to avoid a mistake. Others may not be so diligent. Among individuals with high blood pressure, 89,000 premature deaths could be avoided each year with appropriate medication treatment – the reasons?  1 in 2 people missed a dose; 1 in 3 forgot if they took the med; 1 in 4 did not get the refill in time.

First, a simple app solution can help. Setting a calendar entry (no app required) or downloading a medication reminder app can help users avoid missing their medication. Free apps, like Pill Reminder (iPhone) and PillsOnTime (Android) also track missed doses. Tracker by Medisafe (iPhone and Android), not only reminds you when it’s time for a refill but enables you to track vitals like blood pressure. Davis’ Drug Guide (iPhone) even contains detailed drug information for patients who have questions about a drug, the possible side effects, or its interactions with other medications.

Next, medication dispensing pre-packaged containers can help with complex regimens. For some individuals, a plastic 7-day pill container provides enough structure. But if problems occur as a result of not taking doses, technology-enabled containers are designed to help prevent both missing a dose or taking the wrong pill. Units are easily connected to the Internet for communication to caregivers about whether the unit was opened at the right time. They include PillPack (recently acquired by Amazon) which delivers the packaged medication doses and has an accompanying app to track information about them.  Then there is MedMinder, an automated dispensing box that can be preloaded by the pharmacy.  PillPack and MedMinder charge just the co-pay medication cost. Finally, consider Philips’ Automated Medication Dispensing Service – in which a caregiver loads up to 40 days of doses which are dispensed in small cups per dose at a cost of $59.95 per month.

A special case, diabetes medication non-adherence is a critical health problem.  Today, the obesity rate for adults 60 and over has risen to 41%. It is estimated that 30% of the overweight adults have diabetes – and most diabetics are overweight. Further, as many as 50% of them do not take adequate medication to manage their blood sugar, accounting for $24.6 billion in avoidable healthcare costs. Although some would say that Americans take too many pills, for many, medication is critical to health and wellbeing—especially diabetics.  And for the 15% of the population that take five or more pills per day, being diligent about taking their medication in conjunction with the right diet, can be especially difficult. Apps for monitoring diet and blood sugar include Glucose Buddy, MySugr, DiabetesConnect, and SugarSense.

 

category tags: 

medication management

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/technology-can-help-make-medication-management-smarter

Five tech and aging blog posts from October 2019

October was a long and extravagant month for the tech market.  Between trade events, including the Connected Health Conference in Boston, LeadingAge in San Diego, HLTH in Las Vegas, the Aging 2.0 Revolutionize Conference in Boston which was highlighted by the reveal of Venture Capital investor Dominic Endicott's $2 Trillion Age-Tech market size, making the Consumer Technology Association's $29 Billion look cautious. No doubt there were also many smaller events throughout the country. Here are the October blog posts:

AARP research highlights changes in technology adoption.   What a difference more than a decade makes. Consider a long-ago AARP document that examined technology use of the 65+ population. Remember Healthy@Home in 2008? You probably don’t, but you should read it. Kudos to Linda Barrett who led the production of this milestone report.  The iPhone had just been released in June of 2007, so this survey did not ask about smartphone use – there was no Digital Health (a "check engine light for your body!"); the Longevity Economy hadn’t been invented; Fitbit was a 2007 new clip-on tracker, and Facebook was still a campus toy. The survey was fielded in December of 2007 with a population of 907 adults aged 65-98 (the mean age was 74). This population is rarely surveyed today, despite the growing lifespan of the 65+. Much was revealed, though it is another example (as if we needed one) that the more things change, the more they don’t.   Read more.

Hearing aids should appeal to those with significant hearing loss.  It’s a given that hearing loss interferes with communication – which itself is a risk for social isolation – as well as fall risk and dementia.  Ironically, according to the recently published and comprehensive MarketTrak10 survey, the decision to wear them is so often delayed years – the delay resulting from excuses like “hear well enough; can’t afford; too expensive; no coverage.”  Given the associated risks and isolation from delay, it is surprising that until recently, the devices were well-matched with the excuses.  What’s changed to overcome all of these excuses? Read more.

Announcements of new offerings are arriving – will they/can they be used? Hopefully these 5 will offer benefit that can and will be realized by older adults. Writers of these 2019 articles about the topic are not so sure that new technologies for this population may not be reaching their intended audience. That can be due to a variety of barriers, including fear that they are not using them properly (UCSD study), lack of internet access (which would limit awareness), low technology literacy (TechCrunch), including lack of familiarity with terminology, and physical challenges (research from MPDI). Here are five new technologies that could provide benefit to older adults – content is from the companies.  Read more.

You are increasingly likely to have a wearable -- around your neck or on your wrist. You may collect your own data for your own tracking and use.  For those who see a wearable in a health context, they may be disappointed to know that their doctor doesn’t seem to care or know what to do with your heart rhythm data.  But you can gain great benefit from tracking your performance (exercise, heart rate) – competing with yourself, and feeling the satisfaction from any improvement over time.  What are the benefits of wearables today -- and in the future? Read more.

How much time do we spend setting up our ‘smart’ phones?  Every few years, I change phones. In the past, Android-to-Android, I wasted at least a full day customizing all the ‘improved’ features the way they were on the previous phone, setting up home screens, eliminating bloatware, and downloading apps that did not properly convert.  This time, it took me most of 2 weekend days to set up an iPhone to join family photo sharing. The access to photos – that was one of the good parts. Otherwise, it was maddening and sent me out to forums again and again.  I learned about the also-constant bug-fix upgrades, email addresses masquerading as Apple IDs (don’t get me started) and other apparently arbitrary design decisions whined about online. And then there was the stylistic non-charm of repositioning jiggling apps icons.  But yay, now I see shared photos and learned how to stop auto-play of videos in Safari. Read more.

 

 

category tags: 

wearables, smart watch, hearing loss, smartphones, cell phones

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-tech-and-aging-blog-posts-october-2019