Partners’ Connected Health Symposium 2016 – note the aging opportunity. Over the years of this event, a session here and a speaker there occasionally talked about an aging society – and what it means. But aging is today’s health business reality. First, the first keynote was about the innovation opportunity – delivered by AARP’s JoAnn Jenkins. The pitch-off event ‘supporting cognitive function as we age’ also included AARP judges viewing submissions of the four finalists – and the Avatar for tracking health and exercise that won. Upcoming: the 2017 merger of this conference into the Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA) and its Connected Health Conference event (formerly known as the mHealth Summit). With material from the firms themselves, 2016 innovation winners included:
Behold more startup efforts to help with care. You must admire this. The energy and entrepreneurial enthusiasm driving new entrants is astounding. And if at first, an idea does not take hold, note the founder of that one may appear in a new variant. You know that doctors can now bill for end-of-life conversations. And no surprise, a tool emerges that helps doctors with these conversations. One adds to the lengthy nationwide list of 'telephone reassurance' service providers. And there is even a directory. The offerings below are selected from recent press releases, startup finalists, and conversations. Note that the alphabetically-listed material is all drawn from the content provided by the companies:
PHOENIX, AZ, AUGUST 30, 2016— Life365 announced today that Kent Dicks, Founder & CEO of Life365, will speak at four upcoming conferences in anticipation of the companies’ wearable and health management platform release this fall.
Do hospitals mismanage support for vulnerable older adults? And we wonder why people, including doctors, avoid hospitals. We knew that an older adult going into the hospital experiences or departs with an unwanted side effect. Half a million per year acquire C.Difficile in hospitals -- costing $4.8 billion; ICU risk of death is 35% higher for elderly. And MRSA has a 12-month death rate of between 20 and 35% -- with the most vulnerable, you guessed it, the elderly. But did you know that one-third of hospital patients over age 70 and half of the patients leave the hospital more disabled than when they arrived? Question raised: what about appointed or actual advocates when elderly patients are admitted – is someone present or appointed by the hospital who will observe care, including vigilance about hand-washing or ICU treatment– perhaps the state-by-state Care Act address this in a future update.
