Likely where AI cost benefit is being compared to human labor.
Washington DC, September 25, 2023
University of Pittsburgh, School of Health And Rehab Sciences October 13, 2023
What's Next Longevity Innovation Summit, Dec 7-8, 13, 2023
Buzz in the press is good for all. Articles about using technology to monitor aging parents -- like the most recent two in the Thursday NY Times by Hilary Stout and Eric Taub can be great for the aging tech industry. They generate buzz and interest in the media; they are syndicated and carried throughout the Internet; re-mailed (many times to me); they boost awareness of prospective buyers; and create curiosity and even leads, both of consumer prospects as well as vendors and dealer channels. Given buzz like this, one might think that technologies to help monitor your aging parents will now be well-understood and vendors will have to spend less of their time educating and explaining, and more time just taking orders. We thought that when we read the February, 2009 Times article by John Leland. Meanwhile, Living Independently Group, now part of GE, launched QuietCare in 2003 -- when remote monitoring then really was fairly 'new'. And then again, in September, 2009, in Business Week, when Arlene Weintraub wrote about the business of aging in place. Oh, were it true.
The caveats and conundrums qualify each rendering of buzz. The Hilary Stout article cited several of the almost clichéd concerns expressed by various University research experts: worries about privacy ('big brother is watching you'), false alerting (70-year-old mom was painting the sun room, not having a heart attack), parental resistance to the tech (being bothered by it, or being bothered by their children who want them to use it.) Meanwhile, the Leland article raised cautions about price and lack of reimbursement, whether the technology monitoring would let adult children off the hook for visiting their parents. And in September 2009, Business Week quoted IDC's Scott Lundstrom, vice-president for research at IDC Health Insights: "Right now this is a niche market made up of affluent people who want to monitor their parents. The technology is going nowhere without a reimbursement model that supports it." Yeah, yeah, yeah, but why?
So let's swat our way through the thicket of buzz and caveats. What will make the market for technologies for aging in place, or the inverse, technology to help with caregiving of aging parents, or the market's largely overlapping segment, telehealth, become mainstream enough to be a given, expected to be available, and NOT newsworthy as a 'new' category?
The technology isn't really new, but a mature market isn't really here, either. I love buzz -- it is energizing, exciting, and validating for what those who are working hard in this industry -- and it energizes me as well. But a few (how many?) years from now, it would be great to read stories about how adoption of all of the technology categories discussed in the two Times articles last week grew by leaps and bounds, practices are standardized, training of professionals incorporates those practices, senior well-being is clearly better in the study groups versus the control groups, and the young engineering talent of the world recognizes the opportunity to enter this well-established and mainstream market.
Comments
Bridging the disconnect.
I think that Happy@Home could be a pacesetter for the AIPT industry-if they have a viable plan for marketing themselves at a grassroots marketing level.
People want to age in place, most people cannot afford assisted living and nursing home care, and seniors,family caregivers, healthcare workers, insurance companies and Uncle Sam could benefit from the widescale adoption of in-home healthcare systems and AIPT.
Local grassroots neighborhood selfhelp organizations ( e.g. iVillages emerging within NORCs) could play an important role in helping our seniors to age in place. These same groups could become educators/missionaries for the right AIPT companies.
I've got a game plan for promoting such a grassroots movement.
Peter Durkson