Wanted: Startups, Entrepreneurs, Regulators, and Investors to Disrupt Aging at The Health Technology Forum Innovation Conference, May 22-23 at Stanford University

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Wanted: Startups, Entrepreneurs, Regulators, and Investors to Disrupt Aging at The Health Technology Forum Innovation Conference, May 22-23 at Stanford University

There’s an industry that needs talented thinkers and designers to disrupt hard-hitting problems. It’s the aging and long-term care marketplace. It wants the kind that quantify everything from activity levels to sleep cycles to activities of daily living to heart rate. And they need instant feedback, the kind that indicates where they fall short and how they can get back on track.

The senior population need mobile devices and tech-enabled solutions that help them manage and control their medical care needs. One such solution could potentially predict an individual’s future care needs years down the road—based on their health status today. It’s important to know because health care is an older adult’s greatest expense in retirement, and they need help to predict and then manage their future senior care.

Population Health Advances

By 2030, 25 percent of the U.S. population will be above the age of 60, and 19 percent will be 65 and older (U.S. Census.) The focus of new inventions should help this elderly population remain independent in our communities going forward.

Facts that justify the need:

  • 90% of those 65+ have one or more chronic conditions.
  • Chronic diseases account for 75% of the money our nation spends on health care, yet only 1% of health dollars go to improving overall health.
  • Diabetes affects 12.2 million, or 23% of, Americans aged 60+.
  • 90% of Americans aged 55+ are at risk for hypertension, or high blood pressure.
  • Every 15 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall.
  • 22% of seniors live alone and are considered orphans.

With 89% of elderly Americans preferring to age at home, our health systems for this demographic are now more important than ever. However, 22% go without the care they need because of a lack of adequate caregiver support.

Models Needed to Enable Medicine and Care for the Masses

To uncover essential solutions, the Health Technology Forum (HTF) encourages innovation through productive dialogue between experts in health technology, providers, and businesses. The May 22-23 HTF Innovation Conference at Stanford fosters conversations and collaborations to discover tomorrow’s solutions.

An area in need of help is home and community-based care because 80% of older adults live independently at home. Medicaid and Medicare are in vital need of new care models and technology innovations for the home and community-based services. Ideally, models will be created that advance towards better care while lowering costs.

The Seniorcare.com Aging Council, specialists, who dedicate their lives to helping older adults, encourage tech startups to create medical devices and apps that significantly impact successful aging. The place to be that fosters such models is the HTF’s Common Good Conference on May 22 – 23 at Stanford University. Here, speakers stand up, and workshops offer ideas to solve increasing health care expenses through innovative technology adoptions.

If you’re a fledgling or veteran tech guru, The Aging Council suggest these emerging tech examples to spark original inspiration:

Body

Good medical care, feeling connected, and prevention methods are essential. Telemedicine easily connects seniors with doctors – it’s especially useful to those with mobility issues or that live in rural areas. Communication via smartphones and tablets prevents isolation. Big data identifies key interventions for those at risk for serious health challenges and alerts professionals to problems using data from home monitoring systems. Connie Chow, DailyCaring.

Caregiving

The Lindsey Institute for Innovation presented the results of their second Caring for the Caregiver in Richmond. Students were paired with a family caregiver and spent the weekend creating a variety of caregiver friendly technologies. The caregivers were part of the team and provided useful input about what would be practical. Dr. Eboni Green, CaregiverSupport.org.

Technology has made a big difference to us as a business involved in caregiving (coordinating, communicating, etc.). Tech helps connect older adults to new outlets of interests. For example, one of our caregivers helped a client get his church’s sermons and other interesting podcasts on an iPad and arranged weekly FaceTime sessions with his family. Alex Chamberlain, EasyLivingFl.

Community

LifeAssist launches Circura – an enterprise care & collaboration platform for caregivers, families & seniors. The focus is to create ease so care providers & families can attend to what matters. With Circura, home care & senior housing agencies can offer families & caregivers a way to connect, to collaborate, and help loved ones be active and engage. Michelle Jeong, LifeAssist.

Seniors share many characteristics with the younger generations; we are social beings with a strong desire for independence. There are some companies, including Touchtown, which provide technology that helps seniors engage with each other in a way that increases their happiness and maximizes their independence. Ted Teele, Touchtown.

Home Environment

Called ‘the most significant tech trend of the year,’ Messenger bots herald a world where we interface with artificial intelligence through natural language. Innovations in fields as diverse as health and wellness, to socialization and remote sensing, should enhance seniors’ ability to live independently. Stephen Forman, CLTC, Long-Term Care Associates, Inc.

The senior population has the most money and the greatest need. They want more than anything else, to live independently, not in an institution. Devices help them do that, but tech design falls short, we need today’s innovators to tackle these challenges and capture the opportunity.

Will you show up with your ideas to help the greatest population in need of emerging technologies?

Bio: Carol Marak is the editor at SeniorCare.com. She’s earned a Certificate in the Fundamentals of Gerontology from the University of CA, Davis. Contact Carol at Carol@SeniorCare.com.

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Showing 2 comments
  • Arthur Kupperman
    Reply

    Carol

    Please take a look at the above website.

    I think this is the kind of company and technology to provide the disruptive technology you are talking about.

    Thanks.

  • Pronoy Deb
    Reply

    Nice post .. Thanks

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