senior living

September brings falling leaves, rising and falling hopes. Turns out that VCs are waking up to the opportunity in the longevity economy. Recognizing that people may live a lot longer, perhaps even to 100. How do you prepare for such a long life? Behold the rise of the active adult lifestyle, now enabled with a boom in 55+ rental communities. Combine that change with the ‘Forgotten Middle Market’ of senior living. Consider the Chicago Tribune article about tech for aging in place. Now add in the shortage of workers in home care, health care, and nursing homes. If there was a time to look at the role of monitoring and engagement technologies that augment and assist the worker in the care of older adults – it would seem that this is the time. Here are four Sept blog posts on these and related topics:

The Census knows the growth and potential explosion of care needs and older adults. Consider their newly published document explaining the industries to those who may still not see what’s happening. "Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly saw a 34.4% increase in revenue from 2013 to 2020.  Home Health Care Services experienced an even larger increase – 50.5% -- during the same period." These assertions are built on the Service Annual Survey (2021).   The U.S. Census Bureau projects that in 2050, the U.S. population ages 65 and over will be 83.9 million, nearly double what it was (43.1 million) in 2012.

Some might say that sensor technology for older adults is nothing new.   What’s the big deal? Remote monitoring products and services built with sensors have been around for decades. Grandcare Systems was founded in 2004 followed by a sensor-based remote monitoring startup and consolidation wave in 2009-2010. This type of tech had obvious benefits, even then, but today, what was obvious then has become a crisis of care today. There are simply not enough workers to care for the aging boomers and beyond. That spells opportunity for motion and camera-based sensors that are being deployed for care of older adults. This will be discussed further in a report later this year, The Future of Sensors and Older Adults 2022. Among the many types and features of sensors, here are five offerings, all info from the companies:

July offered time to think about gaps and staff shortages. For example, we expect tech products to be more intuitive and usable than they are. So often we become mired in a swamp of settings, especially when upgrading to a new device or software version. Everyone seems to know someone who has waved a hand and dismissed even being trained on new offerings. At the same time, many are eager to learn and wish they knew how to know what they needed to know. Meanwhile, the labor shortage has impacted every aspect of senior care, requiring a rethink of financial health of the businesses and the role of technology. Occupancy in senior living dipped below 80% in 2021, though said now to be in a period of recovery --even as costs to operate and resident prices rise. Here are the four blog posts from July 2022.

There is a labor shortage everywhere -- ditto in senior care. We know that one of the biggest issues in senior living (and home care, nursing homes, home health care) today is a shortage of labor. This roll-up of statistics shows more than 400,000 employees lost between 2020 and 2022, with long-term care facilities (aka nursing homes) being the most impacted. There is quite a bit of chatter in long-term care publications about the need for more technology use, and providers are asked to offer best examples of tech use to win an award (separate categories for senior living, home care, and skilled nursing) at the upcoming Leading Age event in October. Remember that memory care is a sub-category within both senior living (aka assisted living) and skilled nursing facilities (aka SNFs).