Shall we take this WSJ article at face value? Rant on. From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal – pops up a dramatic headline, The Loneliest Generation, describing how baby boomer Americans, more than ever, are aging alone. Did you know that ‘social isolation’ has become a named baby boomer health condition, spiking Medicare costs by an additional $134 per enrollee – tucked into the list that includes arthritis (+$117 of cost) and diabetes (+$270), source AARP? Most of that additional spend was on nursing facilities and additional hospitalization. Hmm. What’s wrong?
New findings from insurance giant Humana (NYSE: HUM) show that nearly 31% of Americans over the age of 65 don’t feel socially engaged. Social isolation has been a prevalent issue for many home health care and home care companies in the U.S. Such companies as LHC Group (Nasdaq: LHCG), FirstLight Home Care and Lifesprk have been working to find solutions to the issue.
Boston, MA – May 31, 2018 – Orbita, Inc., which provides a first-of-its-kind technology platform for creating health-care specific voice and conversational AI solutions, today announced a collaboration with AARP to study remote patient monitoring and reduce social isolation. As participants in the 2018 Pulse@MassChallenge accelerator, the organizations will study new digital approaches for leveraging natural language processing to new enable hands-free, digital experiences for the 50-plus population.
Pawtucket, R.I. – July 12, 2018 – This summer, Ageless Innovation LLC will bring even more joy and companionship to older adults and their caregivers with a new version of its Companion Pet Cat. The Tuxedo Cat, with distinctive black and white markings, was created in response to popular demand from consumers for a cat that more closely resembles real ones they’ve known and loved.
The hearing aid industry offers pricey hearing aids for people with ‘defined’ hearing loss. The FDA wants you to understand that it regulates hearing aids – which it defines as helping the medical condition of hearing loss. The FDA then observes “sound amplifiers for consumers with no hearing loss who want to make environmental sounds louder for recreational use.“ Recreational ? Hearing aids that they do regulate are now made by a small number of companies and are sold with audiologist services for $1000 up to $4000 per device – most people need two – and have a lifespan of up to 7 years. That price includes a hearing test, fitting, initial batteries and more.
Skip the tech – listen to the experts interviewed – first robots. The good news – this week’s Health Care Technology supplement transcended the limits of doctors and hospitals – and dabbled in the dilemmas of elder care – included technology to assist those with dementia and mitigate loneliness. The bad news -- another in a long line of 'robots and chatbots look after the elderly,' with promotions of those oft-promoted Care.coach and ElliQ, adding Catalia Health’s cute Mabu. These are worthy experiments – and not wanting to be left behind, there are always health organizations eager to see what the fuss is about. Says USC researcher, Maja Mataric: "Robots give patients the illusion of having a physical companion…it isn’t actually very hard to project empathy (Mabu)...Empathy is what you do, not what you feel." Really? How comforting.
The hearing aid industry offers pricey hearing aids for people with ‘defined’ hearing loss. The FDA wants you to understand that 
Skip the tech – listen to the experts interviewed – first robots. The good news – this week’s 