Five Aging and Health Technology Blog Posts from September 2020

The boomer-and-beyond market has caught the eye of the tech industry.  As a busy September wound down, new announcements in the voice first category were of particular interest. These include GreatCall’s new Lively Flip phone with voice services and the announcement that Amazon’s Alexa has added 80,000 answers to healthcare questions through a partnership with Digital Health company Sharecare. And on 9/24 Amazon announced CareHub, a way to monitor family members from afar. As if that weren’t enough, a tech track at Argentum’s annual (now virtual) conference included a session on Voice First (with aRyan Elz and Nick Patel, sponsored by CDW Healthcare) in a long list of tech enablement session entries. Also at Argentum, existing tech players added features for Covid-19 and more.  Finally, a new report details access limitations and disparate costs for high speed Internet across the US. Here are five other posts:

Will telehealth help the oldest adults during Covid-19? What happens when people avoid health-related in-person care? Nearly a third of older adults, according to a National Council on Aging post, are foregoing visits to emergency rooms, afraid of catching the virus. Or they are avoiding outpatient visits, afraid of Covid-19, but also concerned about cost of care. And the cumulative number of lost visits since mid-March continues to grow. Family concerns about health and Covid-19 also continue to delay or prevent some move-ins to senior living communities. Presumably, some avoidance is occurring even in circumstances where there is a pressing need for a move, such as worsening dementia. But is telehealth viable for the oldest? Read more.

Five offerings from the Rock Health Aging in Place report. Venture interest in Aging in Place – is it a turning point? RockHealth, the “first venture fund dedicated to digital health”, has declared this year a turning point in the market of offerings for older adults (aka baby boomers, particularly those 65+). In their September, 2020 Aging in Place report, the authors note that demographics, regulatory and policy changes (aka reimbursement via Medicare Advantage plans), and Covid-19’s boosted use of digital health combine to make this a pivotal point. The oldest baby boomer, it should be mentioned, is 74 now, but the youngest is 56 and may have aging parents who could benefit, depending on health status, from these five offerings from that report. Read more.

Pendant medical alerts evolve – and will disappear. Surprise (maybe) – Philips puts Lifeline business up for auction. How do I know this? Not from any news article other than PERS Insider, a newly created newsletter for those who track the medical alert industry. Probably given the Q1 profit drop, they had to do something about the steep revenue decline of their Personal Health businesses. You may not remember that Philips acquired the Lifeline business in 2006 for $750 million. What did they get for that investment? The leader in the “Medical Alert/Medical Alarm/PERS space.” You pick the term -- or let the search engine do it in order to show you each paid ad after paid ad. Read more.

Agin in place – the latest trend.  Rant on. People want to age in place – just ask them, as AARP did in 2018. Of course, in the not-cited part of that survey, only 59% expected to be able to do so. Little did they know that a pandemic was coming, that visiting with aging family would become a nightmare – with people unable to see their relatives for many months. The death rates from Covid-19 (or with Covid-19) of seniors in nursing homes and assisted living were horrific on the one hand and daunting to prospective move-ins. So by late 2020, EVERYBODY wants to age in place – an unprecedented trend, says Rock Health – and health innovators have taken note. Read more.

Technologies from the Argentum 2020 Virtual Conference and Suppliers.    It’s been an interesting technology week. New announcements in the voice first category were of particular interest. These include GreatCall’s new Lively Flip phone with voice services and the announcement that Amazon’s Alexa has added 80,000 answers to healthcare questions through a partnership with Digital Health company Sharecare. And today (9/24) it announced CareHub, a way to monitor family members from afar.As if that weren’t enough, a tech track at Argentum’s annual (now virtual) conference included a session on Voice First (with Ryan Elza and Nick Patel, sponsored by CDW Healthcare) in a long list of tech enablement session entries. Also on the Argentum site is a product category listing.     Read more.

Recent press quotes:

New York Times: In Isolating Times, Can Robo-Pets Provide Comfort, September, 2020

Kiplinger: High Tech Aids for Aging in Place, September, 2020

Senior Housing News: Senior Living Tech Spending Skyrockets, September, 2020

Home Care Magazine: Alexa, Take Care of Me, August 31, 2020

category tags: 

computers, internet and social networking, Telehealth-RPM-Voice Health, Voice First/AI/Voice Assistants, Mobile PERS

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-aging-and-health-technology-blog-posts-september-2020

Technologies from the Argentum 2020 virtual conference and suppliers

It’s been an interesting technology week. New announcements in the voice first category were of particular interest. These include GreatCall’s new Lively Flip phone with voice services and the announcement that Amazon’s Alexa has added 80,000 answers to healthcare questions through a partnership with Digital Health company Sharecare. And today (9/24) it announced CareHub, a way to monitor family members from afar.As if that weren’t enough, a tech track at Argentum’s annual (now virtual) conference included a session on Voice First (sponsored by CDW Healthcare) in a long list of tech enablement session entries. Also on the Argentum site is a product category listing. Here are five from Argentum 2020:

CareMerge Voice. (CareMerge is in the Argentum, Senior Living Supplier catalog). “Caremerge Voice helps improve the residents’ experience by enabling them to interact with Alexa for community-specific information the natural way they have always used it.  Caremerge Voice provides a new level of instant access to community information and concierge services that senior living communities and residents are going to love. As senior living technology moves past early adopters and more communities move forward with voice technology, Caremerge is going to be on the cutting edge of that advancement.” Learn more at CareMerge.

CarePredict Pinpoint. “CarePredict, the leading AI-Powered Digital Health company for seniors and their caregivers offers CarePredict PinPoint Toolset consisting of Contact Tracing, Location Tracing, Path Tracing, and Room Traffic tools for Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Nursing Homes, and Hospital facilities.” Learn more at CarePredict.

Netsmart Telehealth.  “Netsmart Telehealth™ is a mobile and web technology platform that supports virtual clinical services, and builds personal connections among individuals, care teams and family members. With Telehealth, fully integrated workflows within the electronic health record (EHR) support live healthcare visits, putting specialized care within reach during crises and expanding care options to existing clients.” Learn more at Netsmart.

Rendever Senior Living. "Rendever’s resident engagement platform has been used by hundreds of staff members and provided more than 650,000+ experiences to thousands of residents. We regularly hear that caregivers appreciate when their operator invests in technology to support resident happiness. Connecting with residents through these experiences leads to an increased sense of empathy and a deeper level of commitment to providing care." Learn more at Rendever.

SafelyYou Insight.  “With SafelyYou-Insight™ services, your community gains access to clinical fall expertise. Within 72 hours, fall assessments are provided by our clinical team to document the incident in detail and highlight possible corrective actions based on your specific resident fall patterns and needs. Our fall experts have seen thousands of falls and set aside time on your schedule to review the fall videos, root cause analysis, and recommendations.” Learn more at SafelyYou.

 

category tags: 

senior living, Telehealth-RPM-Voice Health, Voice First/AI/Voice Assistants

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/technologies-argentum-2020-virtual-conference-and-suppliers

Aging in place – what goes around comes around -- maybe

Aging in place – the latest trend. Rant on.  People want to age in place – just ask them, as AARP did in 2018.  Of course, in the not-cited part of that survey, only 59% expected to be able to do so. Little did they know that a pandemic was coming, that visiting with aging family would become a nightmare – with people unable to see their relatives for many months.  The death rates from Covid-19 (or with Covid-19) of seniors in nursing homes and assisted living were horrific on the one hand and daunting to prospective move-ins.  So by late 2020, EVERYBODY wants to age in place – an unprecedented trend, says Rock Health – and health innovators have taken note.

Aging in place forever – the concept.  When this blog was launched in 2008, the Wikipedia definition of aging in place was described as a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) -- the ability to move from independent living to assisted to skilled nursing. Logging into Wikipedia, it was possible to get into a tug-of-war about the definition.  By 2013,  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention got their hands on the definition -- aging in place as "the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level."  That enabled adding four categories of useful technology, copied from a Market Overview.

Aging in place for a while – the reality.   There are 54 million people aged 65+ in the US.    Of those, 22 million are aged 75+ -- possible candidates to move from their homes, but likely they will try to age in place.  But of these older adults, 6.5 million are aged 85+ -- not surprisingly the approximate move-in age to senior living – 1.4 million reside in nursing homes and approximately 800,000 living in senior living communities (average resident age is 87).   So one-third of the 85+ are not, actually, aging in place.  Many have dementia or are frail and wheelchair bound due to other health issues.

Covid-19 fear has worsened concerns and possibly judgement. Senior living occupancy dropped to just 79.5% in August 2020.  No doubt, some family members brought their relatives home or delayed a planned move-in.  For seniors who are forced to stay in their rooms, prevented from seeing family members due to Covid-19 fears – instead they are faced with another health risk -- loneliness. But are seniors better off in homes that have two stories and stairs, where the adult children have full-time – work-at-home or not – jobs and children in school or at home? Can families handle the responsibility for dementia or wound care, toileting and bathing, and do they have the training to do these tasks? The needs of the oldest are not well-understood, and perhaps not well-considered either by investor audiences of Rock Health -- or families.  Rant off.  

category tags: 

aging in place, Family caregivers, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/aging-place-what-goes-around-comes-around-maybe

Pendent medical alerts evolve – and will disappear

Surprise (maybe) – Philips puts Lifeline business up for auction.  How do I know this? Not from any news article other than PERS Insider, a newly created newsletter for those who track the medical alert industry.  Probably given the Q1 profit drop, they had to do something about the steep revenue decline of their Personal Health businesses.  You may not remember that Philips acquired the Lifeline business in 2006 for $750 million  What did they get for that investment? The leader in the “Medical Alert/Medical Alarm/PERS space.” You pick the term -- or let the search engine so it can present ad after endless ad.

What positive impact did this acquisition have on the space?  Not much. The original Lifeline business was a pioneer of this market segment, building up a business that included doctor-referral, a senior-aware trained call center and multiple channel partners, including the home security segment. Eventually the segment reached such a level of recognition that others began to jump into the market as well, including Philips. Was that a good thing?  One positive -- it validated the business strategies of competitors, including the two Stanford MBAs that bought VRI in 2007. Their goal was purportedly to take market share from Philips Lifeline.  Which they did. The result is VRIcares, its emergency response, vitals monitoring, and medication management matching the Philips Lifeline trio of services.

Philips made mistakes with Lifeline – creating technology openings. The original Lifeline was a pendant device connected to a box (Communicator) in the user’s home. Now called HomeSafe, the pendant-wearer could either use a landline phone connection or a cellular connection – but note the rapid transition to cell-phone only households – including for older adults – and the prediction that landlines will be fully obsolete by 2025. Okay, so that was about the in-home PERS customer, widely profiled by vendors as an 82-year-old woman living alone.  They then persisted with a Medication dispensing device that has been eclipsed by others, including pharmacy-connected MedMinder and Amazon-owned Pillpack.

Mobile and medications matter. Meanwhile, in 2010, MobileHelp launched a wireless/mobile pendant – that is one that could be used outside the home.  This was an incentive for Philips and others to attempt a mobile offering.  Then it was time to move outside the home and add fall detection -- Halo Monitoring launched the same year Philips got Lifeline, 2006. And so it went – by 2012 MobileHelp had acquired Halo Monitoring to have fall detection capability and that same year, Numera acquired Blue Libris’ fall detection – ultimately acquired by Nortek.  A day late and a dollar short -- in 2013, Philips launches its own mobile offering, GoSafe.  And seeing what was going on elsewhere, in 2016, the firm added fall detection to GoSafe and GreatCall acquired fall detection from BioSensics.

Technology change has led to today’s pendent obsolescence.  Today, 30% of the PERS industry is mobile, validating the emergence of wearables other than pendants to take out and about. Is Philips throwing in the towel, now that Verizon, MobileHelp, UnaliWear, FallCall Lite (Apple) – all have caregiving smartwatches with watch faces (and there's even Trelawear's necklace) that are unobtrusive?  Without a wearable and a fits-and-starts history, Philips’ exit is no surprise.

category tags: 

PERS, Mobile PERS, wearables, smart watch, fall prevention, fall detection

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/pendent-medical-alerts-evolve-and-will-disappear

Five Offerings from the RockHealth Aging in Place Report

Venture interest in Aging in Place – is it a turning point?  RockHealth, the “first venture fund dedicated to digital health”, has declared this year a turning point in the market of offerings for older adults (aka baby boomers, particularly those 65+).  In their September, 2020 Aging in Place report, the authors note that demographics, regulatory and policy changes (aka reimbursement via Medicare Advantage plans), and Covid-19’s boosted use of digital health combine to make this a pivotal point.  The oldest baby boomer, it should be mentioned, is 74 now, but the youngest is 56 and may have aging parents who could benefit, depending on health status, from these five offerings from that report. All text is from the websites of the vendors:

CareTribe. "We focus on making the caregiving journey less stressful and more effective for both the caregiver and care recipient to help support the overall well-being of the family. Our caregiving experts are available to provide you with personal support throughout your caregiving journey. Whether you’re dealing with a one-time event or planning for longer-term care of a loved one, we’ll help you determine what path you’re on and what happens at each step along the way." Learn more at CareTribe.

FlintRehab Music Glove. "Helping to regain movement at home following stroke. MusicGlove works by motivating users to perform hundreds of therapeutic hand and finger exercises while playing an engaging musical game. To use the device, you simply put the MusicGlove on your hand and press play. Then, follow along and make the appropriate pinching movements when each musical note floats down the screen." Learn more at FlintRehab.

Grayce. "Grayce guides families who help aging and vulnerable loved ones. Most everyone helps to care for a loved one someday, and it can be one of life’s most complex and rewarding roles. Grayce’s mission is to provide trusted, expert guidance that empowers families to gracefully navigate their care journeys. Your dedicated Grayce expert will provide knowledgeable support through each step in your care journey." Learn more at Withgrayce.com.

NextStep. "NextStep addresses the caregiver crisis by expanding the pipeline of new CNAs, decreasing CNA turnover, and equipping current caregivers with high-value Continuing Education courses. NextStep’s mobile app-based Continuing Education platform gives CNAs unlimited access to 140+ CNA courses that meet all federal and state CNA Continuing Education requirements. Employers can track completion and access certificate records to satisfy all audit requirements at any time."  Learn more at NextStep.

TomorrowHealth.  "We’re bringing together personal service and modern technology to get you the products and supplies you need, covered by your health insurance and delivered right to your door. Most insurance plans cover at least a portion of the cost for medical equipment and supplies, so why pay entirely out of pocket? Our team of Care Advocates use cutting-edge tools to get you the best price.” Learn more at TomorrowHealth.

category tags: 

digital health, Telehealth-RPM-Voice Health, Family caregivers

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-offerings-rockhealth-aging-place-report

Will telehealth momentum help the oldest adults during Covid-19?

What happens when people avoid health-related in-person care? Nearly a third of older adults, according to a National Council on Aging post, are foregoing visits to emergency rooms, afraid of contracting the virus, or avoiding outpatient visits, afraid of catching Covid-19 or concerned about cost of care.  And the cumulative number of lost visits since mid-March continues to grow.   Family concerns about health and Covid-19 also continue to delay or prevent some move-ins to senior living communities.  Presumably, some avoidance is occurring even in circumstances where there is a pressing need for a move, such as worsening dementia.  But is telehealth really viable for the oldest? 

Do the oldest have Broadband access?  Although a telehealth visit can be held via a phone call or FaceTime today, eventually its use will require more secure tools and likely will require broadband or a smartphone. According to Pew Research’s 2019 survey, 59% of the 65+ have broadband in the home.  This probably includes the 31% of the 65+ surveyed in April who said that access to the Internet was essential.  And as one article noted, the higher surveyed number (67%) accessing the Internet includes those who do so in a library or senior center – and  most of those in the US are currently closed.  One of the factors in having broadband at home is the ability to pay the $65/month to access it.  And when people get ready argue about how it can be really cheap, as little as $10/month, this article notes that this is location-dependent, and in some cases, income dependent.

Do the oldest have devices that enable FaceTime or other Internet-based connection? According to AARP’s 2020 report, 62% of those age 70+ have smartphones (more than have broadband in the home).  The average price of a smartphone today has ‘fallen’ to $503, and there are those (possibly including the vendors themselves by now) that smartphones have become too expensive, with only 10% of people willing to spend $1000 or more.  When they say vendors are changing strategies, they mean new phones can be bought for $750.  Unless the population aged 75+ is working (fewer than 10%) or has substantial savings, the $750 phone will be out of reach.

Who is training or helping the oldest benefit from telehealth?  So let’s say the oldest live in a household where there is a computer or smartphone and knowledge of how to use them for a telehealth visit. Or they live where someone is motivated to help them do so, perhaps a family member, staff in senior housing or a nursing home, or a home health worker. Let’s assume that for now, AARP has halted its regional training (18 locations) and the OATS center-based training is also halted. A few other options, like this one to get online, or for those who are online, check out this guide from AARP which includes reasons why telehealth matters.

category tags: 

telehealth, Boomer-Senior Tech Business, healthcare, Seniors

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/will-telehealth-momentum-help-oldest-adults-during-covid-19

Five Health and Aging Blog Posts from August 2020

August in the time of Covid-19.  Normally at this time of year, one looks back at the summer just passing and ahead to the autumn of trade shows, travel, and even – gasp -- talking in person.  This year, the emergence of Work From Home (with an acronym WFH!) has isolated most in Zoom rooms and revealed decorating styles, bookshelves and intriguing wall art. The world’s largest annual trade event that many tech firms would spend the fall preparing for, CES in January 2021, has moved to all-online. The irreversible telehealth boom may be slowing and yet, older adults may be unable to benefit.  More from August 2020:

Voice tech is pervasive – for some, but hardware market adoption may be slowing. At the end of April, ninety million US adults were estimated to own smart speakers, one-third of consumers. The last published eMarketer survey in 2019 sized the software voice assistant market (Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa et al.) as penetrating one third of the US population – 111.8 million. But according to a late 2019 AARP survey, only 20% of the 50+ population use voice assistants – and for the 70+, only 12%. For those that have them, they are being used daily. What’s holding the others back? Typically, as in this podcast from 'This Week in ' about Aging in Place, one hears the concerns about security and privacy, no doubt because older people have expressed those concerns. Note that 51% of 5000 responders in this 2020 global marketing survey worry about voice assistants listening to them without their consent. Also note that the survey extended to boomers (those aged 56 to 74) who apparently cared less about this than younger people. Read more.

Companies and products worth noting in August. It may be the dog days of summer, but life and innovation move forward – and so it is with offerings to note that serve older adults. In particular, it is great to see the emergence of Primetime Partners, specifically focused on the aging-related market opportunity. The first, HomeEXCEPT was one missed at the time, emerging from a 2017 AARP Innovation Business Plan competition. The last was offered by a giant US network. Go figure.  Read more.

Approaching the 20^th year in this job category, so let’s reflect. OPINION ON. Industry analysts wear many hats, but the primary role is to understand and communicate about a particular category market of companies/players. This includes writing market research documents (blogs, white papers, reports) about the categories that can help position them in comparison to each other and new entrants. It includes giving advice to current and new entrants. Analysts also do custom paid work for some of those companies– such as advisory sessions, surveys, webinars, speaking engagements, or white papers. Analyst firms typically publish market overviews -- for the tech sector, Gartner Magic Quadrant positioning, Forrester Wave or IDC market surveys. Read more.

Innovation for older adults – not keeping pace in the US. We get pretty excited when a new venture firm starts up in the US that focuses on older adults. One imagines that the phone there is ringing off the hook. Why? That makes at least three US VC firms, including Generator Ventures and Linkage Ventures, that acknowledge the older adult technology market, let alone fund early stage entrants. Consider that the 65-and-older population has grown by a third in the past decade – now at 54 million (or 16% of the US’ 328 million). Are three VCs enough to cultivate innovation needed to serve older adults, given the shortage of caregivers in homecare, home healthcare and senior living? And that’s today – never mind the projected growth of the segment in the coming years. Read more.

Lots of talk about remote care technologies. But will the 2020 crisis convert to actual technology change? So much has changed in recent months as a result of Covid-19 -- startling changes that previously were incremental. Consider reimbursement for telehealth technologies, a wave of free engagement software, distribution of tablets to senior centers and Echo Dots to senior living, to remote care voice tech for high needs seniors and government-funded competition to combat social isolation. And no doubt that's just a subset of what's happening as frantic attempts are made to close gaps in communication, care delivery, safety, social isolation and more. Read more.

category tags: 

Telehealth-RPM-Voice Health, Voice First/AI/Voice Assistants, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-health-and-aging-blog-posts-august-2020