Seniors and technology – change is in the airwaves. In ways that could not have been anticipated six months ago, the technology marketplace (sellers and buyers) for older adults is accelerating in interest level and adoption. And that is likely an understatement. Following the reimbursement changes after in-person visits disappeared and numbers of visits exploded, firms with telehealth tech are finding a one-year-pipeline compressed into one month. The odds are, not confirmed yet, that Wi-Fi deployment, donation of tablets and online video tools, are all accelerating in the time of Covid-19, which will be confirmed in a future survey. Consider six intriguing examples – please send or comment with others if you have them:

Note the wave of announcements of 'free' tech services and sea changes. A number of companies popped into my inbox in the past week with announcements of a period of free access to remote care/engagement technologies – including and in alphabetical order CareCentrix, CareTree, Ergo, Eversound, Outpatient, Ready Responders, NurseCaller, Touchtown, StaySmartCare, See You Link and VitalTech. If your firm is in the remote care/caregiving space (health, telehealth, engagement), please comment or email and I will add to this list. And our family doctor’s staff initiated an offer of a Facetime (or Skype or Hangouts or other choice) for a follow-up visit instead of going into the office. Note the other ‘temporary’ change of reimbursement for remote (even telephone) visits, now fitting into the concept of telehealth. The ‘tipping point’ of telehealth is here – and tipping with a suddenness that is unnerving for overstretched vendors and most notably, difficult for providers who may lack the equipment and/or processes to deal with patients remotely, despite the risks to themselves with in-person interaction.

The world is spinning from the events of March 2020. At the beginning of the month, it made sense to publish a Market Overview about tech for older adults that did not link all tech to Covid-19, and by the end of the month every single news item, announced business initiative, investor prediction, startup messaging, university project, and technology topic was only about Covid-19. It’s almost quaint to look at where the month began since publishing the 2020 Market Overview of Technology for Aging on March 5. The technologies noted are as relevant today as they were on March 5 – however, their application as the list of press releases notes, may be different. Telehealth is suddenly as critical as it always should have been. Smart home (and enablement of remote interactions matters more than it ever has.) From the month:

This past week offers updates to services, policy, and practice. Expect more announcements moving forward, but matching reimbursement for telehealth with in-person visits was a big deal. Many other changes have been put in place, eliminating co-pays, adding coverage for telehealth for those without insurance, and many others many of them state-by-state (see Florida and California, for example). Senior living companies are readying telehealth services (see Holiday Retirement) and no doubt more will follow.