Telehealth-RPM-Virtual Visits-Voice Health

​HIMSS was canceled – but the briefings went on to shed a light on what’s new.  When a conference of the scale of the largest annual health IT event HIMSS (possible attendance of 45,000 compared to 2019) is canceled, it sends shudders through the world of the entrepreneurs and providers they wanted to meet, solving thorny care delivery problems, finding customers and partners, gaining visibility to unusual and compelling solutions. And it created a big challenge for the multiple PR firms engaged to help create that visibility to innovation in care. Following cancellation, phone calls replaced nearly all 10 scheduled in-person meetings. In addition, HIMSS is in the process of arranging a digital version of HIMSS. In the meantime, Here are some of their updates, in alphabetical order:

Technology for older adults has become mainstream. The 2020 Market Overview of Technology for Aging is now online.  This 2020 version reflects the growing market interest in the boomer-senior demographic and its position in the Longevity Economy. This tech market is less about products specifically designed for older adults and more about smarter marketing of many consumer offerings that could be useful to them. This includes smartphones, tablets, smart home technology, Voice First hardware and virtual assistants, and in-home sensors. Each of those devices is enabled for older adults by either more targeted marketing and packaging, enabling software, or bundling into training and solutions for in-home caregiving and/or healthcare. this forward-looking study is illustrated with descriptive graphics and includes more than 25 new offerings.  Here are five of them:

What is the point of sneering at older people? Rant on. Consider an upcoming HIMSS event in Orlando with the charming title: "Monitoring Grandma: Adoption of Connected Health Tech by Seniors." That version of the title is spelled out here because the presenter has been alerted and agreed that the title was condescending – so MAYBE it will be changed.  But this is just the tip of the condescension iceberg:  Go ahead, Google ‘technology grandma’.  Just check out the first page or two of the millions of identified references – including the images of older women ‘holding it wrong’ or ‘ confused.’ 

​CES 2020 – walking the land of the new.  What has 170,000 attendees, long lines, baffling arrangements of booth numbers across multiple, gigantic locations and more robots than you can shake a motion sensor at?  That was CES 2020.  This gigantic parade of the international new and possible can be perused online in detail (and perhaps more usefully) without walking a step or sniffing cigar smoke.  This time, seen (somewhat) in person, here are 10 new offerings from the show that may be relevant to the older adult technology market. Descriptions are drawn from show booth presentations, sessions, websites, and press releases: