healthcare

The medication reminder world has had three tiers of product offerings -- telephone-based reminders, reminders linked to emergency response offerings, and electronic pillboxes. And medication errors, including those from incorrectly filling pillboxes, continue to be vexing.

Please tell me I am wrong.

Jitterbug announced a new phone this past week -- the Jitterbug J -- that I find striking -- simply because of its newly announced LiveNurse capability, offered as an additional service. Base service rate plans have risen from $10/month to $14.99 (50 minutes).  The $147 phone (not cheap!) is Bluetooth compatible, sleeker looking, with a speaker for hands-free/headset use.

It's a great move forward for seniors to connect to the Internet and find purpose in their lives, as this Times article describes.  The 14 hours a day spent on Eons and PoliceLink.com -- I guess that's good.

It's always hard to tell whether something is observation or insight (or just plain wrong). But I've done 13 interviews in the past few months about home health technologies, with vendors ranging from A (Advanced Warning Systems) to Z (Zume Life). I am beginning to see a pattern about product offerings that seems to have three dimensions. These may be related to product success long term -- cost, capital, clinician involvement.