It’s a common refrain in senior living that today’s assisted living communities are closer to yesterday’s skilled nursing facilities.
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Comments
From Andrew Mitz via LinkedIn
Yes, but what do the metrics say about reduced costs, improved quality of life and reduced caregiver burden? The research literature does not yet provide strong support for the economics of technology to aid home dwelling older adults. Even home technology for chronic disease management has mixed results. Formalizing home care management is an excellent goal and dovetails well with personalized medicine. But, the tangible benefits of home monitoring with IOT remains difficult to demonstrate.
Sensors as Important Home Health Tool
Let's not forget that not everyone aging in their own homes will be ambulatory. Not just about walking but also sense if someone has successfully transferred/toileted, etc. Innovative home medical equipment companies have a real contribution to make here. The good news is that AAHomecare, a trade association, has formed a Hi Tech Work Group to explore new technology and payment models. http://www.hmenews.com/also-noted/aahomecare-forms-tech-workgroup
From Mike Nicholson via LinkedIn
I think point #5 is huge......especially getting the optimum, cost effective mix of hands on and technology enabled.
Enabling Tech-Enabled Home Care
Regardless of where funding comes from, the domestic servant/agency paradigm yields very poor labor utilization rates and is inherently un-scalable. It is a good starting point for innovation. One day, not soon enough, there will be a care services ecosystem that uses integrated digital and automation technologies for in-home care service delivery. Caregivers, care consumers, machines and devices will work together making life better for older people.
But there are two missing fundamental enabling conditions for large scale in-home digital care ecosystem growth: 1.) For each care consumer (and any other person or operator involved) there must be an effective digital representational presence, and 2.) There must be an effective digital care communications network.
Without these we should expect zero-sum disruption and incrementally slow progress. It is not just about medical care. The potential for annual system wide savings from reduced waste and improved productivity in the aging care consumer system is several hundred billion dollars. How do we operate an open, safe, private and transparent care network using the internet and web technology? How do we gain control of our personal data? How do we use technology to empower aging care consumers? Is it worth the effort?