AgeTech

You may notice that it is the Christmas cheery season. [Rant on] Isn’t it great to see the sleigh-bell imagery, decoration excess, and TV Christmas-caroling crowds? Observe all the promotion, advertising and shopping discounts for must-have stuff. One guesses that Christmas must matter to self-identifying Christians, now only 75% of the US population, down from 80% in 2006. Yet the Christmas season is not about religion. It is a platform – a springboard for irrational spending, financial hangovers, 30% of annual retail sales, and the result -- goods that the recipient doesn’t want, need and can’t store – and that the giver can’t afford. 

Hopefully a road full of self-driving cars is media mythology.  For the breathlessly awaiting, note Wall Street Journal quote about it being 25-30 years before self-driving cars will dominate the roadways. Apparently there are 250 million vehicles on the road today that are at least 10 years old (impressive in a country that only has 318 million people). Also appreciate that 25 years from now is when millennials will enter their 60s. Will they be just as eager then as they are now to leave the driving to a Google engineer – or will they be as cautious as today’s boomers?  Will these 50-year-olds be walking slowly, bent over as they cross the street, the image of 'old.'  Maybe at 50, they will not be as ignorant as this video shows them to be now.

LeadingAge ended last week, leaving tea leaves about the future.  This annual conference is the largest for the world of non-profit senior housing companies – and while much of it focuses on the tactical, a number of sessions tackled change, some of it wrenching for this industry. We already know that older adults in the future will find fewer and smaller nursing homes, and the ones remaining will be more focused on acute care, driven, as always, by payments, policies and the significance (big) of higher move-in ages. One session coached about 'abandonment'  of strategies no longer needed.  These changes necessitate innovation among the organization 6000 member companies – and the mix of services that these companies provide. 

When AARP launches a site for caregivers -- insurers and home care services listen. Today AARP launched CareConnection -- a site for family caregivers. Services from Care Connection will be "ranging from in-home care support (via CareLinx and Hometeam), Teladoc-powered telehealth services, meal delivery service from bistroMD, and professional caregiving advice" from AARP's long-time insurance partner, UnitedHealthcare. Perhaps this new site will out-do Care.com, Caring.com, Caregiver Action Network, and all the other 'caregiver' subject matter and referral websites. This new CareConnection is a business within AARP Services, the for-profit subsidiary of AARP – which leads the deals that are a notable part of the nearly $1.5 billion of the organization's revenue.