Five Recent Caregiving Technology Offerings in 2018

What newcomers have entered the market?  Besides ‘longevity market new media’ like Stria (former Next Avenue) that provided a splash of cold water for startups and investors in the older adult space.  Although there is little evidence that any investors are bullish about the general older adult market – despite AARP documentation and various books to the contrary, innovators continue to create new offerings to help older adults live better lives.  Here are five recent and soon-launching offerings to help – content is from the websites of the firms:

CareAcademy. "Empower caregivers to learn how to deliver the best care to older adults with the support, guidance, and compassion needed to improve their quality of life. We would then make it easy for caregivers to “upskill” and continue their education over time so they could better serve clients as needs changed and advance their careers.  The result is a better caregiver, a better home care agency and a better way to care. Today CareAcademy provides home care agencies with a best in class online education platform.”  Learn more at CareAcademy.

CogniZance.  "CogniZance was established to provide a cognitive enhancement service for older adults. Building on top of neuroplasticity findings, the service includes daily exercises that take place in the real world and that are meant to train users’ working memory, attention, creative thinking and more. Join CogniZance today and start training your brain on a daily basis using our new integration with Facebook Messenger.” Learn more at CogniZance.

JoinPapa. "Papa uses technology to simplify and speed up the process of finding qualified assistance for your loved one at a moment’s notice. Maybe your loved one just needs help with a few household tasks this afternoon. No problem, connect to local Papa Pals instantly, select one that meets your needs and they’ll be there in under an hour, for as little or as long as you or your loved one need them. Traditional agencies require minimum hour commitments (daily and weekly), many days to find a qualified caregiver to even come to meet you.” Florida only at this time. Learn more at JoinPapa.com.

Kinto. "When your family needs to keep an extra eye on mom, coordinate her care, manage her meds, make sure things are in order or just keep everyone in the loop, Kinto has you covered. Whether it's managing medications, keeping track of important documents or simply keeping a list of everything there is to do. Connect with other Kinto families to exchange support, wisdom and knowledge.” Learn more at KintoCare.

PeoplePower. The Home Occupancy Status Microservice is also capable of knowing when people are asleep to deliver advanced automation, senior care and wellness solutions from understanding a person’s natural sleep patterns. Able to put a home to sleep or wake it up gently to better prepare residents for the day, improvements to a person’s circadian rhythm are possible through sleep predictions to intelligently adjust home temperature and lighting conditions appropriate for the time of day, the day itself, and even the season. Senior care solutions become more intelligent and supportive by understanding away, at home, asleep or awake states of older adults. Learn more at PeoplePower.

 

 

 

category tags: 

Family caregivers, IoT and home monitoring

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-recent-caregiving-technology-offerings-2018

The ABCs of the Internet Today – Ads, Bots and Crushing Clutter

The business model of the Internet is crushing us.   Rant on. We could start with Twitter, which is deleting millions of bots, trolls, and other fake accounts (often with automated software generating hundreds of tweets per day).  This is raising concerns over the company's growth and true number of monthly users. But not raising concern about the business and social value of Twitter. Has anyone looked at the age distribution of Twitter users? Only 8% are 65+, and the biggest block is aged 18-29.  Consider that its share price and profit of $61 million in Q1 2018 are tied to growth in ‘legitimate human users -- the only ones capable of responding to the advertising that is the main source of revenue for the company.” Translate: capable of responding because they are human 18-29 year olds, not because they have money to spend. And then there are:

Websites – as quantity of edited text declines, the user experience is crushing us.  The Wall Street Journal is not a junk website, but because I used Chrome on a big display screen to search for closet built-ins, the first-displayed ad for one of those companies ate up the upper one-third of the screen real estate.  I did not search for BMWs – nor do I own one, but the NY Times website equivalent has BMW videos to warn me that there are only a few weeks left of summer. Of course, your results will, as goes the web, vary greatly and with each visit. Look for a topic presented in a Google Alert, for example, telehealth. First click ‘No’ on whether to subscribe to a site for home health agencies, then study the ring of event ads. Or car rentals – where a website popup called ‘Advertiser Disclosure’ admits that it prioritizes rental agencies that compensate it.

Facebook – personal data exposure has been crushing us. In the first quarter, Facebook disabled 583 million accounts in Q1 of 2018 (versus Twitter’s 70 million).  The company claims that it has 2.9 billion active users, though that is a global number, and the active daily number is ‘closer’ to 1.15 billion.  Okay, and that is a number net of the disabled 583 million accounts? those numbers with Pew’s 68% of US adults on Facebook, unchanged from 2016.  Per the NY Times (this time the ad is about Quicken Loans – maybe to buy that previously-displayed BMW?), A Facebook ‘bug’ changed the privacy setting of 14 million users.   The has a long and well-tracked history of so-called ‘privacy missteps.’

Ah, Google, let’s (not) be evil – it could be crushing other companies.  Did you know that the company dropped that ‘Don’t Be Evil’ phrase from its code of conduct in May?  Or that the US is doing little in light of the efforts in the EU to rout out its (some say outrageous – in 2017) anti-competitive behavior? We, the users, of course, don’t complain as much as the algorithmically down-ranked companies that are driven to distraction like Yelp – or out of business. And though the EU is leveling a big fine, India a smaller fine – but the US has been asleep at the switch, though perhaps there is a bit of awakening (reported in the UK, of course).  Meanwhile and no doubt, the distribution of companies in the search space is striking – though $100 billion revenue Alphabet/Google denies that it has a monopoly on search. And what ever happened to Yahoo?  Rant off.

category tags: 

social media, computers, internet and social networking

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/abcs-internet-today-ads-bots-and-crushing-clutter

Four Blog Posts (and concerns) That You May have Missed

Considering the dog days of summer.  Dog days – these are the hottest days of summer, according to that Oracle of modern culture, Wikipedia.  As the glow and racket from fireworks fade, it's time to mull over the thoughts that zipped by in recent months, perhaps not noticed, but are worth another consideration.  All four of these posts are about our technology life, as shoppers in stores as recently as July 1, our experience with user interfaces that are designed for none, catching up on the hype/hope/fading hope about self-driving cars, and finally, the only thing that can terrorize a company the size of Walmart – Jeff Bezos and Amazon. Here are four blog posts to take a look at in this sleepy week:

Time to Worry about Your Data.  The irony, the irony – everyone saw Europe’s data privacy initiatives.  Why has this taken so long here? In a word – lobbying. The congressional hearing droned on, and Mark Zuckerberg tried so hard not to sound condescending towards his techno-light questioners about the so-called ‘Facebook Scandal.’ Which could have been the Google scandal, the Twitter scandal, or eve Amazon -- consolidation of industry players and using the data to sell them (or make ads ‘more effective’) or as with Amazon, sell them more stuff. The real scandal? Not the Cambridge Analytica role, which didn’t exactly sneak around in the long-time and paid analysis of Facebook data. The real scandal might be last year's $30 million of lobbying spent to avoid controls (and user protection) actions like those considered and in process in Europe.

Technology Designed for All.  A long time ago (7 years this month) in a tech world far, far away, a report sponsored by AARP predicted that technology change would deliver a new user experience. The concept was referred to as "Technology Design for All" -- defined as 'User experiences that appeal to all age groups, persisting across versions and devices.'  According to the report Connected Living for Social Aging, which was published 7 years ago this month, the future was predicted. It is worth a look back -- note that it did happen just as described. Consider smart speakers (the Echo was launched in 2014), IoT boxes, phones, tablets, PCs, Macs and all cloud-based software.   These work without the need to download and upgrade on Patch Tuesday, though fixing privacy is the next big technology hurdle. 

Are we really ready for self-driving cars? In a taxi in DC – the driver wends his way around buses and pedestrians.  It’s the day after the self-driving car killed a pedestrian. The next day, you can find scores of link references to a police comment that the car was likely not at fault though no investigation has completed – or even been started. In another tech publication (“Big Think – your daily micro-dose of genius”), you can read that in over 1.5 million miles of testing, one year ago was the first time the car had been at fault when it crashed with a bus. Really? How does the writer know this? Because Google says it was a ‘misunderstanding in the car’s software and from now on, the car will understand that large vehicles and buses will be less likely to yield.’

 

Do we really want Amazon to win at everything? It is the time of convenience – and of non-stop hacking into everything.   Consider these 41 hacks (through October 2017!) in health care.  And these 791 in banking (through July, 2017!). And then there’s Equifax – 143 million accounts, established presumably to protect, not misuse, your social security data.  And what’s the worst that can happen? Identity theft – costing consumers $16 billion in 2016.   Yet consumers trust Amazon, sellers not so much.  And they trust both Amazon and Walmart as possible providers of drone deliveries, with only 41 percent concerned about air traffic safety – presumably fear of too many drones in the air – as their hot food is delivered.  But the drone, presumably would drop off the food outside the home. And Amazon has filed patents on drone delivery. What’s next?  Deliveries inside the home? Uh, yes. As with self-driving cars, media hype combined with consumer naiveté are, as always, regrettable enablers.

 

category tags: 

vehicle/transportation technology-services, Boomer-Senior Tech Business

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/four-blog-posts-and-concerns-you-may-have-missed

Aging in Place Technology – Five Blog Posts from June 2018

In a short month, heard lots about caregiving and hearing.  You have 'conversed' with an older person who cannot hear well without hearing aids but owns an expensive pair which are highly adjustable. But they don't put them in, or lost one of them and not replaced it, even though the VA will pay for it. These individuals may ask you a question, but they don’t wait for an answer they can’t hear well. And so they go on – talking about themselves  and assuming that’s fine at your end of the 'dialogue'   They have families who become irritated with them; they spend a great deal of time alone.  Then one day, they become part of an equation – those with hearing loss are at greater risk of developing dementia.   Sigh.  Here are four blog posts from June:

Four technology categories to remotely monitor a caregiver. The boom in home care has side effects -- turnover and risk. We want to trust home care workers with aging parents.  After all, most cannot afford private pay assisted living – which can exceed $3000/month in most locations – and assisted living occupancy is projected to be flat -- likely because people see the cost and defer move-in. Given expanding life expectancies at age 65 – an average of 20 more years for men and more for women, the possibility of ‘aging in place’ in a private home may be growing.  As a result, the demand for private home care will grow, but so will the costs – especially for finding workers willing to do this difficult work for low pay.

Voice First in Senior Living -- What's Happened and What's Next?  Senior Living organizations are eager to try new technology.  Over the years, consider the pilots of Rendever (virtual reality) at Brookdale, Benchmark’s pilot of Google Home and Samsung tablets, or  CarePredict in LifeWell facilities – just a few of the many. Some pilots are even documented in the form of case studies – about what worked – or what might not have worked.  Pilots are typically newsworthy at their start. And they may produce a list of lessons learned upon completion – or a set of considerations for future pilots. So where does Voice First technology fit into the senior living equation?

Narrowing the price gap between hearing aids and PSAPs.  The hearing aid industry offers pricey hearing aids for people with ‘defined’ hearing loss.  The FDA wants you to understand that it regulates hearing aids – which it defines as helping the medical condition of hearing loss. The FDA then observes that Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs) are “sound amplifiers for consumers with no hearing loss who want to make environmental sounds louder for recreational use.“ Recreational? Hearing aids that they do regulate are now made by a small number of companies and are sold with audiologist services for $1000 up to $4000 per device – most people need two – they have a lifespan of up to 7 years.   That price includes a hearing test, fitting, initial batteries and more.

Ten Technologies from the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit.  Two competitions, both sets of presentations in one day. The first five are finalists in the 2018 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit Business Plan competition. The Business Plan Competition features companies pitching their ideas to a diverse panel of judges for feedback, funding and a $10,000 prize.  The second five are finalists in the AARP Innovation Labs Pitch Competition for companies focused on providing peace of mind to family caregivers through the use of VR, AI and other disruptive technologies. The winning team will go on to the AARP Innovation Pitch Event in Washington, DC, in October of 2018.

Now Hear This: uncorrected hearing loss isolates and harms older adults.   One in three between age 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of people aged 75+ have some significant level of hearing loss.  Note that hearing loss has been linked to dementia and to social isolation – and that in turn has been connected to poorer health outcomes.  Furthermore, wearing hearing aids has been linked to fewer hospital visits. According to studies, among adults aged 70 and older with hearing loss who could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than one in five (20 percent) has ever used them. Why such a small percentage? Experts believe that it is a combination of denial, belief that hearing loss is not severe enough, perceived stigma associated with wearing hearing aids, and a perception that they cost too much.

[Note: For those who want to see the original blog post (and all of the other site content), please visit www.ageinplacetech.com.]

category tags: 

hearing loss, Boomer-Senior Tech Business, Seniors, dementia care

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/aging-place-technology-five-blog-posts-june-2018

Narrowing the price gap between hearing aids and PSAPs

The hearing aid industry offers pricey hearing aids for people with ‘defined’ hearing loss.  The FDA wants you to understand that it regulates hearing aids – which it defines as helping the medical condition of hearing loss. The FDA then observes “sound amplifiers for consumers with no hearing loss who want to make environmental sounds louder for recreational use.“ Recreational ? Hearing aids that they do regulate are now made by a small number of companies and are sold with audiologist services for $1000 up to $4000 per device – most people need two – and have a lifespan of up to 7 years.   That price includes a hearing test, fitting, initial batteries and more.

Why do hearing aids cost so much? According to hearing industry experts, the price differential is based on the inclusion of audiologist services. And in a few other words from AARP, very few companies control the bulk of the market.  And although it has been recommended to decouple the product from services, so far, that hasn’t happened, perhaps related to the efforts of those few companies. Retailers like Walmart, BestBuy, and Costco all sell hearing aids – coupled with Costco-provided audiologist -services – Costco’s site offers its own branded for $1600 per pair.

As hearing aid prices are disrupted, the PSAP and other hearables disrupt the industry.  If Costco is pushing the hearing aid industry price down, at some point that price meets the upper end of the PSAP market of $500/pair of PSAP maker like Clarity, SoundWorld Solutions or Tweak Focus. The underlying technology in hearing aids and that of Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPs) is not different. The go-to-market channels, however, are quite different.  Retail stores, online websites offer PSAPs for buyers who adjust the device themselves – the which the FDA calls the ‘audio version of reading glasses.’ And Consumer Reports calls them ‘hearing helpers.’ But are they really? Or are they hearing aids in disguise because the FDA does not currently regulate them? Maybe they are hearing aids that you adjust yourself? How do they sync up with the more recently introduced 'hearables' which encompass a plethora of firms?

Consider that the terminology dance must mystify consumers.  Note that hearing aids are not covered by Medicare – nor are PSAPs. Note that one in three between age 65 and 74 has hearing loss and nearly half of the 75+ have some level of hearing loss. Note that hearing loss has been linked to dementia, to social isolation – which has been linked to poorer health outcomes.  (Further, wearing hearing aids has been linked to fewer hospital visits.)

Cut to the chase – the FDA should get out of the consumer’s way. Regardless of what it is called, improving ability to hear among older adults is a health and quality-of-life positive, and could be related to lowering healthcare costs.  The companies in this industry (Hearing Aid and PSAP) need to help the FDA help the older consumer who lacks either device. Decouple the product from the services, allow consumers to make their own choice of where to buy and with what service they need, and track price and competition – and measure the numbers of people who report improvement in quality of life, health status, and social engagement.

category tags: 

hearing loss

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/narrowing-price-gap-between-hearing-aids-and-psaps

Voice First in Senior Living -- What's Happened and What's Next?

Senior Living organizations are eager to try new technology.  Over the years, consider the pilots of Rendever (virtual reality) at Brookdale, Benchmark’s pilot of Google Home and Samsung tablets, or  CarePredict in LifeWell facilities – just a few of the many. Some pilots are even documented in the form of case studies – about what worked – or what might not have worked.  Pilots are typically newsworthy at their start. And they may produce a list of lessons learned upon completion – or a set of considerations for future pilots. So where does Voice First technology fit into the senior living equation?

The newest of technologies – voice first – sparks interest.  Credit Front Porch for being one of the first in voice first – piloting and writing up the results – empowering the participants to both speak requests and control their environment with smart home commands.  But pilots of Voice First technologies are widespread today – see Commonwealth Care Alliance and Orbita.  AARP Foundation, and Libertana Home Health, WebMD. or Answers by Cigna. And new entrants are emerging to tackle Voice First in healthcare – see Suki’s recent raise of $20 million – perhaps hoping to beat Amazon to the behemoth’s own healthcare punch.

Senior living companies have launched Voice First pilots and projects.  Carlsbad by the Sea (including smart home features), The Branches of North Attleboro (including smart home), and Park Creek Independent Living (pilot just launched – including a free device).  There are numerous others – some with press releases like the Park Creek one, or noted in senior living publications, as with Front Porch. Expect more pilots of Google Home, Samsung SmartThings and wearables that can respond to voice command.

Senior living - please report successes and lessons learned.  For senior living organizations, many questions, not so many answers just yet. Who buys the device – the resident or the community on behalf of the resident? How are they managed and deployed – by an IT staffer? Remotely set up or in person?  WiFi upgraded before deployment?  Who receives notifications from smart home technology?  Are concierge services part of the plan – initiated at the front desk?  Or in apartment? Integrated with other senior living technology? And is Voice First now a mandatory feature of resident engagement solutions?  If not now, then by when and with what caveats? What are the biggest concerns, for example, might they be protection of user security and privacy?

category tags: 

voice/AI technology, senior living

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/voice-first-senior-living-whats-happened-and-whats-next

Four technology categories to remotely monitor a paid caregiver

The boom in home care has side effects -- turnover and risk. We want to trust home care workers with aging parents.  After all, most cannot afford private pay assisted living – which can exceed $3000/month in most locations – and assisted living occupancy is projected to be flat -- likely because people see the cost and defer move-in. Given expanding life expectancies at age 65 – an average of 20 more years for men and more for women, the possibility of ‘aging in place’ in a private home may be growing.  As a result, the demand for private home care will grow, but so will the costs – especially for finding workers willing to do this difficult work for low pay. As of 2017, median home care turnover was 66.7% (compared to 30% for CNAs in assisted living).  With so many workers coming and going, especially for care recipients with the most taxing care requirements, what technologies may assist families and agency management for monitoring care?

Cameras.  It is possible that having an in-home security camera can deter issues with home care aides if the aide knows that the camera is there. In New Jersey, a law called "Safe Care Cam", the first in the US, enables family members to borrow a camera for free for 30 days if they suspect abuse.  Home security cameras and security systems (which have cameras) can enable both monitoring and the possibility of a two-way audio conversation with the worker. For those who want to monitor without a caregiver knowing, the camera could be mounted inside an alarm clock or a smoke detector.  

Motion sensors.  These low-cost items can detect movement and alert whoever is monitoring – as well as be part of a larger ‘smart home’ solution.  These technologies can include ‘bed exit’ alerts as well as fall detection – useful in circumstances when the care recipient is left alone at the end of a day or for a period of time.  Fall detection, for example, is increasingly likely to be part of a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) offering – or medical alert market. Either way, detection of motion (or absence of motion) via well-placed sensors with well-placed sensors can be important in monitoring whether a worker is paying attention to care.

Voice reminders and voice ‘drop-in.’  A growing number of families may be willing to use a Voice First technology – like a smart speaker -- for communicating with in-home seniors or caregivers. This might mean setting up an Amazon Echo (Dot or Show) for in-home use.  In those cases where an Amazon device is at two locations, one person can 'drop in' to check on another.  It is feasible to integrate a calendar of reminders for paid workers, for example, a schedule, to please give a medication at a certain time.  This can be done with the Echo line or the Google Home/Google Assistant environment.

Electronic visit verification (EVV).  2018 is the year of the electronic visit verification, subject to compliance with a CMS mandate by January 2019. EVV answers the key agency supervision question -- did the worker arrive it at the appropriate place and at the right time to provide care? This technology will be commonplace, despite efforts to delay making it mandatory, in situations in which a service is reimbursed by government. Because agencies have a mix of reimbursed and private pay business, plus struggling with high turnover among workers, private pay home care work is likely to be tracked with EVV technology -- whether or not it is subject to the mandate.

category tags: 

Home Care, tech-enabled home care, IoT and home monitoring

• 

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/four-technology-categories-remotely-monitor-paid-caregiver