Where is the detailed survey of older people?

AARP recently published several new reports -- all worth a read.  Rant on. The survey reports, about the 50+ gamers and 50+ tech trends, each identify an age band of the 70+, something AARP began a few years ago and kudos to them, that banding continues among some of their research reports.  Not so the Longevity Economy Outlook, which lumps the wealth of the population for those aged 50-100, but no breakout was offered about the spending potential for the population at the higher end of the age bands. From an economic standpoint -- what will they (or their families) spend money on, how is their health, what is the cost of their care, where do they live? Who knows?

As for tech adoption…the AARP executive summary is upbeat. "Smartphone penetration among the 50-64-yr-olds stands at 83%, at parity with the overall adoption rates." And, not a summary point, but also interesting, 62% of those aged 70+ own smartphones, which represents amazing growth during the 10 years since the device became popular. Although perhaps that growth is inversely proportional to the declining retail availability of flip phones, so one must admire the stubbornness of the 38% of those surveyed who still don’t own a smartphone. Perhaps it is (still) because using them is not the intuitive (or 'zero-effort') experience recommended by the 2019 White House Report on technologies for older adults. Perhaps smartphone designers are (still) not reading the testing and usability issues studied and reported by IEEE in 2018.  And will there be a process that follows up on the White House Report to see what, if any, change occurred as a result of its publication?

How many people are not reflected in today’s surveys?  Growing each time this number is searched, census estimates for 2019 show that there are now 52.4 million people aged 65+.  Of these, 22 million people age 75+, 9 million age 75-79, 6 million are aged 80-84, and 6.5 million age 85+. These are big numbers, reflecting business and service opportunities that are more refined than the 50+ described in the Longevity Economy Outlook.  These opportunities reflect insurance offerings, well understood by Medicare Advantage providers to 22 million that now have that product. But to understand clearly what’s happening, some organization or other would have to survey them, analyze the results and correlate those results with business opportunities.

Questions to ponder for this future survey. How about surveying illness incidence by age and home ownership, an opportunity for health-related technology use, particularly with the detail of surveyed Wi-Fi ownership.  Then add smart speakers, EHR access, remote consultation, neighborhood technology, Facebook ("46% of the 65+ have ever logged on to the platform") and Twitter usage. Add moves to senior living or 55+ communities, use of move managers and downsizing specialists.  Consider recently purchased technology from multiple categories -- including smart speakers, use of Google Assistant, Alexa, Bixby, Siri -- with ownership subdivided by age -- and perhaps purchaser, such as an adult child. What about businesses for training older adults, sale of standardized, vendor-supported curriculum for device setup, photo management, protecting personal data, online finance technology, online banking, online shopping, scam avoidance.  Isn't there a business opportunity in there somewhere that would boost the 50+ economy?  Rant off.

category tags: 

Technology - AARP, Boomer-Senior Tech Business, aging in place, Aging

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/where-detailed-survey-older-people

Why are older adults demeaned by the health and tech industry?

What is the point of sneering at older people? Rant on. Consider an upcoming HIMSS event in Orlando with the charming title: Monitoring Grandma: Adoption of Connected Health Tech by Seniors. That version of the title is spelled out here because the presenter has been alerted and agreed that the title was condescending – so MAYBE it will be changed.  But this is just the tip of the condescension iceberg:  Go ahead, Google ‘technology grandma’.  Just check out the first page or two of the millions of identified references – including the images of older women ‘holding it wrong’ or ‘ confused.’   No wonder HIMSS session folks thought this was no big deal.

Despite the user interface complexity, smartphone adoption by seniors is rising. Pew hasn’t bothered lately, but AARP recently published a survey of tech ownership among the 50+.  This time the breakdown included age 70+ as a segment in which 62% own a smartphone.  Not too surprising, when you consider that the neighborhood store display of feature phones for Verizon has, uh, shrunk to just one.  Meanwhile, the average age of a first time grandparent in the US is 50 and by age 65, according to AARP data, 96% are grandparents.  Think of that as you study the Shutterstock images of what grandma presumably looks like. 

Back to monitoring, connected health or otherwise.  Because technology can be used for a purpose, inventors want to make it so.  Sensor-based home monitoring was a 2007-ish innovation.   Perhaps they had or have a grandmother who fell down and want to launch a new tech to prevent others from having a similar experience. This is laudable.  Telehealth was a pioneering concept in 2008.  In 2020, telehealth (and its other prefixes or monikers) is an accepted service with reimbursement codes.  Yet adoption is slow – reasons are many.  One of them surely has to do with the willingness of the older person to be monitored, unless required. How do tech firms and insurers overcome this reluctance? With persuasion?

The home visit – no tech result, interesting motive. Meanwhile, Medicare Advantage plans telemarket home nurse visits which provide an opportunity to assess risk scores, enabling them to boost insurer reimbursements from Medicare based on that assessment, independent of whether the insured has already been assessed at the doctor’s office. Do these visits result in recommendations for telehealth?   No – since they are independent of patient care. The 2017 Harvard article indicates that 1 million had signed up for these home nurse visits – but there were 19 million people covered by Medicare Advantage plans in 2017. That’s 5 percent! That means most people said no, sometimes repeatedly, to aggressive telemarketing efforts. Perhaps grandma may not want to be checked up on, that is, monitored, either by 'connected health' or other forms of oversight that does not demonstrate clear benefit to the individual being monitored – and without the all-important 'Opt in.' Perhaps marketers of tech intended to monitor older adults could include something of benefit for them? How about free Wi-Fi and a smart speaker? Just saying. Rant off.

category tags: 

mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health, IoT and home monitoring, Technology - AARP

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/why-are-older-adults-demeaned-health-and-tech-industry

Six new technologies for safety, health and in-home monitoring

Elder Home Monitoring 2.0 – it may fill a growing need.  Several companies noted were at CES or with announcements at or around that time offered up the possible – a dashboard or collected insights about the wellbeing of an older adult at home.  These may signal not only the next generation of in-home monitoring, but also the next generation of predictive analytics used to help older adults stay longer at home and/or out of the hospital. The timing is good as the oldest Baby Boomer turns 74 this month – and more older adults are staying longer at home. Information is from the company websites or press materials:

Caregiver Smart Solutions. “Small, non-intrusive sensors are placed discretely around the home. These sensors monitor your loved ones’ activities and feed information to our app. Open the app to find data that shows whether your loved one is eating, sleeping normally and moving around. You’ll also find insights for early detection of problems and can also see if there are changes in their eating, sleeping and activity patterns. Sensors also provide reliable fall detection, which may reduce the time it takes for you to know about and react to a catastrophic fall – even if your loved one is incapable of calling for help.” Learn more at Caregiver Smart Solutions.

Forma SafeHome.  “We’ve crafted the ultimate fall detection and health monitoring system bundle of the most advanced technologies into our all-in-one patent-pending app. Get real-time notifications and alerts about the health and safety of seniors or disabled family members living independently and peace of mind knowing that help is on the way. We install top quality smart home technology to monitor, assist, detect, and provide peace of mind. We only use non-intrusive monitors and detectors that are completely safe. All the technology will be monitored in an intuitive app for family members to keep an eye on a loved one. Alerts, notifications, and messages will show the user if there is any unusual activity.” Learn more at Forma SafeHome.

LocateMotion SenSights. "SenSights^TM is a predictive platform that allows users to track their information such as Activity Score, Geofences, Movement Patterns through a private customized view. Using its proprietary algorithm, SenSights^TM analyzes the information provided by wearables and other IoT devices to determine the severity of the situation and sends “smart alerts” accordingly. SenSights^TM is designed to help home healthcare agencies develop a more thorough care plan for seniors while effectively managing their resources." Learn more at LocateMotion.

StaySmartCare. "We monitor health data, activity data, medication data, and cognitive data to show how the senior is doing around the clock – without interrupting their activities of daily living or intruding upon their privacy. Using infrared and ultra-wide band radar, we provide non-intrusive, uninterrupted monitoring. Medical grade, Class II, FDA approved devices provide reliable, commonly used, clinically accurate data to share with healthcare providers. All data is combined and analyzed in context, using AI and Machine Learning, to proactively address concerns before they become costly emergencies." Learn more at StaySmartCare.

Vayyar HOME. "Vayyar HOME requires no wearables or buttons and works without the use of any camera. Vayyar HOME detects falls and can call for help in an emergency. Added features include the ability to monitor activity, sleep and breathing, and send programmable alarm notifications when anomalies are detected. Vayyar’s intelligent sensors monitor location, posture and vital signs, enabling behavioral monitoring such as time spent at rest, in and out of bed, nocturnal roaming and restroom visits. Trends are detected and displayed on a dashboard, allowing for pre-emptive predictions of health conditions such as urinary tract infections, dementia and disorders like sleep apnea and psychological ailments including loneliness." Learn more at Vayyar HOME.

VitalCare Connect. "For care teams, provide patient-focused care through cost-effective biometric wearables and VitalCare's digital health platform. Monitor vital signs, manage ADL and fall alerts, send medication reminders, and place telehealth calls from a single platform.  Easily view your patients integrated health data from any smart device. Real-time and historical vitals, nutritional inputs and medication adherence are recorded to the patient record and viewed based on patient populations." Learn more at VitalTech.  

category tags: 

smart home, IoT and home monitoring, aging in place

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/six-new-technologies-safety-health-and-home-monitoring

Balancing Act Digital Short FINAL

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD4kH6irZ1g

CES 2020: Ten Intriguing New Technologies for Older Adults

CES 2020 – walking the land of the new.  What has 170,000 attendees, long lines, baffling arrangements of booth numbers across multiple, gigantic locations and more robots than you can shake a motion sensor at?  That was CES 2020.  This gigantic parade of the international new and possible can be perused online in detail (and perhaps more usefully) without walking a step or sniffing cigar smoke. This time, seen (somewhat) in person, here are 10 new offerings from the show that may be relevant to the older adult technology market.  Descriptions are drawn from show booth presentations, sessions, websites, and press releases:

CarePLUS. "Beyond Vision, a startup solution in the form of an AI healthcare product, CarePLUS. Through cameras installed inside the household, the solution can detect the motions and postures of beloved family members with AI and release warning messages at the moment of danger, such as falling, sitting too long, leaving home without a clear reason, etc. Every time an elder is detected to have fallen, sit too long, remain too long in the restroom, leave home at the wrong times, etc., the app will give off an alarm to notify all family members. A user may also open the app interface and see a real-time video of the home's interior." Not yet available. Learn more at Taiwan Tech Arena.

Essence Group Fall Detector Radar. "Essence Group released a new multi-sensor fall detection system for seniors. Built on Texas Instrument radar technology, the API works with Essence's Care@Home senior monitoring platform, which places integrated devices and wearables around the home to track physical activity, safety, and physical or verbal panic. The new product uses radar  (mmWave) technology to track a person's position in the home, provide immediate detection of a fall, and immediately alert healthcare providers.  Not yet available. Learn more from Essence Group." Learn more from Essence Group.

HeardThat. HeardThat "turns a smartphone into a hearing assistant, helping to tune out background noise to enable individuals with hearing loss to hear speech more clearly, allowing them to engage in conversations they would otherwise have trouble hearing." HeardThat reportedly utilizes 'advanced machine learning machine algorithms' to separate speech from noise. According to the company, “it listens to the noisy environment and delivers de-noised speech, to the individual’s Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid or other listening devices via their smartphone." Not yet available. Learn more from video.

HomeFit AR. "HomeFit AR is an augmented reality app created from the solutions in the AARP HomeFit Guide. The app enables users to scan a room and discover what improvements can be made to turn where they live into a 'lifelong home.' The app identifies design elements and appliances like refrigerators, sinks and stairs then provide additional information with specific “to-dos” or fixes to help make the home safer, more comfortable and a great fit." Learn more at AARP Innovation Labs.

Houndify DeepMeaning Understanding. "SoundHound offered up new features for in-car radio, including the ability to: “Ask multiple questions and filter results all at once. Answers your most complex questions anywhere: on any connected device, app, or website — at home or on the go. For example, users can say “show me hotels in San Francisco for tomorrow that are less than $300 but not less than $200, are pet friendly, have a gym and a pool, with 3 or 4 stars, staying for 2 nights, and don't include anything that doesn't have Wi-Fi." Learn more from Houndify.

Kytera Companion. "Kytera Companion is an AI-based smart remote caregiver solution that enables elders to age safely at home. Based on innovative monitoring and analysis technology, the solution provides insight into elders’ activity at an unprecedented resolution, and enables for the first time automatic and reliable detection of both hard and soft falls (soft falls account for the majority of falls at elders, and so far, there has been no technology that enables their detection). Using AI, the solution further provides comprehensive wellness monitoring to automatically detect physical and mental deterioration, as well as predict evolving disease conditions (such as depression, dementia and UTI) based on behavioral symptoms." Learn more at Kytera.

MedWand. "MedWand fulfills the potential of telemedicine. Created by physicians and medical device engineers, MedWand houses multiple diagnostic tools in a single, easy-to-use handheld device. With a MedWand on the patient's side, clinicians can conduct remote office visits, and through the real-time collection of multiple vital sign readings and key patient assessments, detect and follow numerous medical conditions from across town, or around the world." Learn more at MedWand.

OrCam Hear. "OrCam Hear is an artificial intelligence-powered hearing aid that combines lip reading with simultaneous voice source separation. The device is the size of a finger, wireless, lightweight, and hands-free. It works by identifying, isolating, and relaying a specific voice to hearing aids via Bluetooth. OrCam Hear works with body movement to select the person the user wants to hear, and switches between speakers by responding to the repositioning of the wearer. All operation is processed offline – without the need of Wi-Fi or a smartphone while ensuring data privacy." Not in market yet. Learn more at OrCam.

Pecola. "PECOLA is a companion robot incorporating ambient intelligence for the elderly. By collecting and analyzing users’ life and physiological data, this innovation can detect abnormal behaviors of elders and thus achieve preventive healthcare. The robot, which follows its user around the home, can detect emotions, perform video-based diet analysis and conduct sleep analysis by detecting breathing and heart rate, according to a product fact sheet. The robot automatically provides daily reports on these activities to the user’s caregiver. The robot uses video-based fall detection technology and will phone for assistance.” Not yet available. Learn more at ITRI.

Zibrio. "The Zibrio SmartScale enables home users to measure and track their balance, with a particular focus on the aging population. The Zibrio SmartScale measures balance with a simple, safe, 60-second test. The user stands still on the SmartScale for 60 seconds with their eyes open, and the SmartScale gives them a balance score from 1-10. A lower score is associated with an increased risk of falling in adults age 65+.  Upon completion of the balance test, the platform displays the balance score and lights up red, yellow, or green to communicate the score’s fall-risk level (high, medium, low)." Winner of AARP Innovation Pitch Event. Learn more at Zibrio.

[Note: Please see latest research report, Voice, Health and Wellbeing 2020 -- published during CES -- about the use of Voice First technology in healthcare offerings]

category tags: 

mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health, robotics, IoT and home monitoring, hearables/hearing technology, digital health

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/ces-2020-ten-intriguing-new-technologies-older-adults

What's next for voice technology in healthcare?

Change is ahead, perhaps sooner than we think.  One of the more striking aspects of the flood of Voice First innovations is the near-feverish pace – predictions turn into practice faster than a device can say “Hello.” Below are just a few of the possibilities that by next year at this time will be, so to speak, yesterday’s news.  By then, thorny questions about privacy, personalization, and patient-doctor voice communication will be closer to resolution. Perhaps doctors will no longer save notes for evening if they can enter them by speaking during or just after the appointment.  And in five years, perhaps scribes will not be required.  Consider:

• Detecting health conditions by voice.  Healthcare providers are becoming interested in the use of voice technology to provide biomarkers – offering information from the sound of a person’s voice as a health status indicator. Recent studies show ability to recognize severely compromised breathing based on sound. Firms like Beyond Verbal see themselves in the emotion-detection voice analytics space, looking at the way a person speaks, possibly correlating it with an illness like coronary artery disease, or detecting the sound of an improperly used inhaler.  But other companies in the ‘emotion analytics’ segment, including AudioAnalytic and Affectiva are capable of detecting individual’s emotional status in context – with the  goal to “put an emotion chip into everything.”  During 2018, Amazon patented a version of its Alexa technology that perhaps could evaluate whether a person is ill.

• Who is speaking? Multi-factor voice authentication becomes a reality.  Just as with banking transactions, healthcare providers and patients will want to verify and be verified as the person for whom the information is intended.  Verification and HIPAA compliance together will make voice-enabled care plans a reality. Just as with banking transactions, technologists have already begun thinking about the use of two-factor authentication in healthcare. The voice biomarker is ‘the highest common factor’ and the easiest for the user, according to Douwe Korff, of ValidSoft, or as he says, “Just Speak!”

• Possibility of a healthcare trained voice agent.  Early in 2019, Intuition Robotics introduced PlatformQ – a platform for ‘proactive goal-oriented agents within specific domains based on context and user learning.’ This is already used in some new cars – capable of proactively taking action to reduce drowsiness or  alerting a driver to a potential driving mistake. How might this work in a healthcare context?

• Standards for voice services interoperability.  Perhaps a user of an Alexa voice assistant might wish to turn on a feature in Google Home. Or data stored in one cloud service might be useful to a user whose data is stored in a different cloud service. To date, that may not be straightforward, but the platform players are beginning to talk among themselves about standards. In September, the Voice Interoperability Initiative was announced, with the intent of enabling consumers to interact with multiple voice services from a single device. And in mid-December more than 30 companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and others announced collaborating on a set of smart home standards – part of Project Connect Home over IP.  The healthcare industry should look at these efforts as signals for future healthcare voice assistant interoperability. 

[Excerpt from Voice, Health and Wellbeing 2020 report published in January 2020.]

 

category tags: 

mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health, Voice First/AI/Voice Assistants

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/whats-next-voice-technology-healthcare