digital health

It’s already been a big year for new Amazon offerings that could benefit older people.   This month’s most obvious change was the introduction of Amazon Care Hub, an Alexa app that can be used to help monitor potentially isolated older adults.  But they also have done more work on Amazon Hospitality in partnership with K4Connect (which has rolled out 10,000 Alexa devices to senior living communities).  One might well argue that Amazon has and will continue to have a major impact on the quality of life for older adults (assuming senior privacy concerns and technology barriers to adoption are overcome – more on that another time):

Venture interest in Aging in Place – is it a turning point?  RockHealth, the "first venture fund dedicated to digital health”, has declared this year a turning point in the market of offerings for older adults (aka baby boomers, particularly those 65+).  In their September, 2020 Aging in Place report, the authors note that demographics, regulatory and policy changes (aka reimbursement via Medicare Advantage plans), and Covid-19’s boosted use of digital health combine to make this a pivotal point.  The oldest baby boomer, it should be mentioned, is 74 now, but the youngest is 56 and may have aging parents who could benefit, depending on health status, from these five offerings from that report. All text is from the websites of the vendors: