Remote monitoring

Back in the day – 2009.  Seems like, uh, 17 years ago.  Long before the arrival of AI.  Long before smartphone ownership by seniors took off.  One year before the introduction of FaceTime. Back in the day of a new wearable chest strap or belt clip from Halo monitoring that could detect a fall. Back in the introduction day of Healthsense eNeighbor for environment monitoring.  The question that blog post raised was whether it was more important to monitor the person (with a wearable) or the place (in the environment).

You know the drill – which amazingly seems unchanged.  A bot advises you that many older adults would benefit from a free monitoring service in the event of a fall.  The bot attempts to verify age and then hands off to an offshore call center rep that cannot pronounce ‘Houston’ – an element in the name of the service company, nor can the rep identify the maker of the medical alert service they are offering. Naturally, the rep cannot remove a name from the cold-calling list -- and when asked to do so, hangs up. But there's good news...

Can the news media generate new interest in an old tech category?  The Nancy Guthrie disappearance case is, at this point, an apparent tragedy. But hey, is it an opportunity to look at what-might-have-been-useful tech?  Count on the Wall Street Journal to seize the moment, offering ‘guidance’ on monitoring Mom and Dad.  For those WSJ readers with aging parents who were unaware of remote monitoring sensors and or location trackers, how reassuring to know that this tech exists!  And while on the subject, tech can be used to track children! Oh and by the way, tech is available to request a ride without using Uber or Lyft!

January 2026 marks a notable milestone for senior care.  In a few weeks, the oldest baby boomers begin to turn 80-- with a life expectancy of another 8-10 years.  This is as significant a milestone as 2011 was – the year the boomers began to turn 65.  Experts noted at the time that hearing aids might become fashionable (which did happen in the hearables dangling pod market) – and that aging in place might become a trend – no kidding…During the next few years, to pick one example, retailers began to improve lighting, adjust store aisles to accommodate baby boomers in wheelchairs and add more seating in the pharmacy area. Consider changes made by CVS Health to provide more convenient experiences for older adults, including picking up prescriptions via the drive-through.

January 2026 is just around the corner.  And so will begin the wave of 73 million baby boomers turning 80 over the next 20 years. Maybe they are all in great shape! Not according to a Johns Hopkins researcher: only 25% are ‘robust and active’.  'The rest are a mix of frail and vulnerable, slowed down by health issues.' And many in their 80s and 90s will be aging in place alone – projected by a Harvard study to exceed 10 million.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) just put out a request for tech ecosystem recommendations – clear understanding that the future for health tech for older adults will be required – and even (!) interoperable. The pace of making all of this happen clearly needs to accelerate.