Baby Boomers, Wearable and Mobile Health Tech – A status report. During 2015, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) sponsored a research project to evaluate the future likelihood of wearable and mobile health tech. This Boomers and Wearable Health Tech 2015 report considered wearables and health apps -- and the likelihood of these technologies helping baby boomers (the oldest is now 71 and 6 years along with Medicare) manage their own care and avoid unnecessary services and costs. After all, the mobile health app market alone was predicted in 2013 to reach $26 billion by 2017. Consider the status of each of these predictions – which were based on 21 expert interviews held during 2015. Were the experts correct or overly optimistic? Both. Here are the 2015 predictions and what has happened since:
After the long, long, long HomeHero goodbye – was the analysis correct? HomeHero, based in LA, was one of the three dubbed here as 'Home-egos' to launch within the past 2-3 years -- along with Honor and Hometeam -- and the first to shut its home care business down. But, unlike most shutdowns, this was a moment for founder Kyle Hill to recap the 'tech-enabled' home care firm’s life and closing story in exhaustive and exhausting detail, complete with pictures. Considering its $23 million of investment, it should have landed on the same Forbes page as the other home care investments –overlooked perhaps because its investors were not typical VCs. But HomeHero’s example illustrates the enthusiasm and limited business analysis of startups in the older adult space, Lively being one of the most recent, but there are many more which were publicized loudly and then disappeared quickly without even a puff of smoke – or a founder post-mortem.
Home Care 100, the preeminent leadership and strategy conference for top executives from the nation’s largest home care and hospice providers, awarded Reflexion Health with the Most Promising New Technology award at today’s general session.
-Social influence and financial incentives in the form of health challenges with motivational messaging can help drive sustainable behavioral changes that are associated with lowering blood pressure, according to a study presented by higi at the American Heart Association's 2016 Council on Hypertension Scientific Sessions.