baby boomers

Digital Health became Health IT when you weren’t looking.  Even as most caregivers become reliant on online information in 2016, the sources of that information are migrating their way to Health Tech, so says MobilHealth News. And just in time, as the funding bubbles appear to be bursting in later stages, reliability of some wearables has been questioned, and the information disclosed to third parties (like insurance or health-related companies) may not be well understood by the consumer.  

The lens used to view age sees a different picture. Population segments can be broad. Baby boomers, for example, now span aged 51 to 70, and people in the youngest segment may not feel they have anything in common with the oldest. On the one hand, a 70 year old with a disability may fit directly into the awkward dual goals of the CTA Foundation: "It was established with the mission to link seniors and people with disabilities with technologies to enhance their lives." In that case, an Age Suit may help (young) marketers better understand physical limitations. On the other hand, the mission of AARP is broad, "which enhances the quality of life for all as we age. We champion positive social change and deliver value through advocacy, information, and service." Grantmakers in Aging has an audacious goal: "by 2019 – for 20% of all philanthropy to go to aging."

Rock Health buries the lead -- consumers don't want to share with tech firms. [Rant on.] Digital health firms are having a tough time, despite upwards of $6 billion from me-too investors, and that's just last year. The Rock Health Digital Health Consumer Adoption Survey 2015 of 4017 people is a testimonial to the mismatch between investor optimism and consumer skepticism. On the skepticism front, blame is placed on a variety of factors, including lack of sharing of data across health providers ('Tech companies don't have the problem, it's the siloed health institutions.') But wait. "The contenders–Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Samsung—all fared poorly, with approximately 5 percent of people saying they’d share with these companies. Facebook was the outlier -- only 2% would share health or DNA data with the social network." Duh. Despite a few hysterically enthusiastic reads of this data, like Forbes, a few saw gloom. Kudos to MIT Technology Review and a few others for noting the tech company chart, small and at the end of the report.

Optimistic boomers think future technology will be a piece of cake.  Asked to picture the future, boomers think they will be different from their parents who resisted new technologies.  Even Best buy agrees that this is a boomer-senior problem – that the next generation won’t need genius bars or geek squads. Even boomers insist that their tech-savviness today will serve them well in 20-25 years – they will accommodate whatever ‘innovations’ Silicon Valley designers, all still 20-somethings, will foist on them. Boomers see the unknown tech future as something they can and want to deal with, the way they mastered (sort of) home network setup, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Skype, and Instagram. And they will want to deal with it, because, well, they are boomers.

Let's start at the conclusion -- the hype hasn't produced health for boomers.  The new California Health Care Foundation sponsored boomer health tech report is out.  First the bad news. Baby boomers (aged 50-69 in 2015) aren't getting the health innovation investment money's worth, though the spigot is wide open for digital health funding.  Which is odd because they represent the single largest cohort that generates health cost, possibly as a result of their more sedentary lifestyle, compared to the previous generations.  Health care costs are often described in the press as going down, but really only the rate of increase is slowing – according to PwC, the growth rate still outpaces inflation.

Getting into the hearing loop arena.  Again a chance to note -- the dramatic enhancement of sound for hearing aid wearers in a looped setting -- that is, a room enhanced with a telecoil loop transmitter -- in a public environment.  The cost, according to the writer, ranges from a few thousand dollars to $130,000 for the entire airport.The result?