Business Week agrees -- it's a business. Top of the agenda for this month's newsletter is the special report on Aging in Place in Business Week which I have Tweeted, LinkedIn, Facebook'd, and generally wallpapered everywhere -- so if this article comes as a surprise to you here, you must be avoiding me on Twitter.  

Insurance obliviousness does not imply niche. The article (yeah, yeah, I was quoted...) covers big companies involved with in-home, passive monitoring and home health like Intel, Philips, and GE. Nice, but the real significance is that Business Week invested the research effort and priority -- we're talking about a minimum $20 billion opportunity over the next 10 years. Forget that superfluous IDC comment that the market is a niche until insurance reimburses for the costs. Nope. Let us remember that the $34 billion alternative medicine market is not covered by insurance. The real barriers to adoption and market growth of the aging in place technology industry are a) lack of awareness and b) technology maturity. Business Week targeted the former and vendors will tackle the latter.

Passive monitoring -- it's a reality in independent living. Speaking of passive home monitoring (sensors, pattern detection, exception alerts), players in this space include QuietCare, Healthsense, GrandCare Systems, and WellAWARE Systems. This month I was fortunate to chat by telephone with Leo Asen, Vice President with Selfhelp Communities (New York City) which uses QuietCare in their independent living housing, and visit with Jim Reilly, Director of Courtland @ Home, part of Courtland HT (Philadelphia) -- where New Courtland has deployed Healthsense's eNeighbor.

In both situations, frail and at-risk seniors who might otherwise end up in nursing homes have been able to stay in these independent living housing complexes through the addition of social services, home health visits, and wireless monitoring technologies.  During last week's ASA event, I visited New Courtland and saw the apartment configuration of Healthsense -- and in October, will be visiting Selfhelp in Queens.

Calibrated Care is Closer to Home. Please note that the 2009 Aging and Health Technology report, Calibrated Care is Closer to Home, promised last month is now on the website for registered downloads -- and comments on the site are most welcome.

Other blog posts from this past month:

The end of the Peter Pan home. There is an interesting schizophrenia being revealed about baby boomers.  True, they mostly want to stay in their own homes (says AARP) although according to the latest MetLife/NAHB survey, only two-thirds actually admitted that, with 26% uncertain. (I bet that they looked around their houses and freaked out.) The over-55 survey responders want broadband and no-slip floors, pull cords and a boatload of community services. But they refuse to acknowledge need for wide doorways, separate shower/tub or lever door knobs. No wheelchairs or arthritis planned, apparently.

Why don't large vendors invest more in technology for seniors? I realize this rant may seem somewhat ironic given the subsequent Business Week coverage. But the fact is that much technology out there is amazingly (almost laughably) complex to use (recognize a printer, for example) -- and it doesn't need to be that way. Further, technology vendors that boomers and seniors actually admire -- like Amazon/Kindle or Apple/Mac -- refuse to market to them.

Heal for America -- another rant. This one follows up on an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggesting a post-college program in healthcare modeled after Teach for America. My suggestion is to refine that to be focused on home health intervention for aging seniors with funding from  AARP. Why not?

In light of the passive home monitoring focus of the Business Week article, our vendor of the month has got to be Halo Monitoring, which launched last January and which has just released a belt clip version of its fall detection capability, previously wearable only as a chest strap. Seniors can wear this new clip and know that someone will be notified if they fall -- without a button being pressed.

Remember, you can sign up for blog post notifications on www.ageinplacetech.com by putting your e-mail address into a Subscribe 'Feedburner' box on the left. (Of course within the posts you receive, you can unsubscribe as well.)  Registering on the site also enables download of the 2009 Market Overview as well.

All the best wishes for a productive autumn,

Laurie Orlov

Founder, Principal Analyst, Aging in Place Technology Watch