Aging In Place Technology Watch

Technophiles should teach technophobes now

Laurie Orlov — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:46:29 +0000

Some seniors are left out of the technology tsunami. According to the Pew Research latest numbers, 38% of those 65+ are using the Internet at home. Although it wasn't provided, let's assume that this percentage shrinks by age decade -- until you get down to the optimistic Evercare 100 at 100, with 21% of healthy centenarians admitting that they go online. But of course, this means that the vast majority are not using the Internet at home, or on their cell phones or at all. My take -- the older and frailer they are, the more they are missing out.

MetLife -- Are boomers in the middle...of self-delusion?

Laurie Orlov — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:51:42 +0000

Baby boomers born between 1952 and 1958 -- not getting old any time soon. I've often thought that one end of the baby boomer age range has nothing in common with the other end. Okay, that doesn't mean that it should be sub-divided into three groups. But so it goes -- MetLife released its Boomers in the Middle report about the attitudes of this age range, individuals aged 52 to 58 during 2010. They view themselves, not surprisingly, as healthy and describe 'old' as w-a-a-a-y-y-y out there in the future, when they turn 75 (oddly, age 77 for women and age 74 for men -- no doubt due to variations in life expectancy after age 50.)

GE, Philips, Intel, Mayo Clinic: Why do this telehealth study again and again?

Laurie Orlov — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:41:28 +0000

Everybody's doing it - reproving benefits of telehealth. When you put these together, you have to ask why. What is the reason that large organizations don't cite previous studies rather than spend money to prove the same point? We're not talking about drug trials here, we are talking about telehealth monitoring, a technology that has been around for a decade at least, that has been studied and deployed, but not uniformly reimbursed (which is the real problem here).

Effort beyond task

Laurie Orlov — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:31:39 +0000

The dog days of February -- effort beyond task. I was in a assisted living/nursing home last week and saw the same golden retriever dog (whose master is the ever-cheerful maintenance guy) and down another hall, a snoozing cat. Here's something I've not seen surveyed -- what percentage of senior housing organizations permit and even encourage pets on the premises and in the presence of seniors? If you know the answer to this question, please contact me! I view the presence of a house pet (and not just the caged birds) as an indicator of effort beyond task -- making me hope that's true of every aspect.

Our future mobile health opportunity, oversized and underdeployed

Laurie Orlov — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:24:52 +0000

Apocalypse and opportunity -- the bet is that we're not going to age well. Our favorite gloom-and-doom source, CNBC, has offered up today's Doomsday Boomer Prediction. Those boomers are going to be a healthcare nightmare: "They visit the doctor more, they consume more services, and they aren’t afraid to use their $7 trillion in collective wealth to improve their quality of life. From physical therapy, to cosmetic surgery, to the latest in life-saving technology, Boomers just aren’t built to grow old gracefully." So inventions of every type are being crafted to help us in our quest to fight this gracelessness and support us as we get old enough to really take that predicted 8% Medicare spending bite out of the GDP by 2035.

Pump up the boomer volume on tech hype

Laurie Orlov — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:58:37 +0000

CNBC wants to believe boomers represent big business. Tom Brokaw says it is so about 'boomer$' -- in a book and a CNBC upcoming TV special. Since baby boomers are 'history's wealthiest and most influential generation', it must have made sense to send CNBC's Silicon Valley bureau chief Jim Goldman out to sniff out boomer tolerance for technology -- especially given the Microsoft-AARP 2009 conversational focus group study about Boomers and Technology (to sum that up -- boomers like technology, but want it to be more intuitive.)

Can innovation push limits of traditional PERS?

Laurie Orlov — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:02:05 +0000

Behold the persistence of PERS (Personal Emergency Response System). Like the little engine that could, this product category refuses to exit. Also called Medical Alarms, Medical Alerts and panic buttons, it is most recognizable as the fear-mongering "I've fallen and I can't get up" device. PERS has been around for decades, but has seen relatively little innovation over most of that time. Actually it's worse, when you think about it. The PERS market is saddled with consumers complaints about shady sales tactics (Life Alert), new market entrants with no understanding of seniors, and a widely disseminated worse-than-50% success rate at alerting after a fall, either as a result of the device not being worn or worn but not pressed.

Connected Living Ambassadors of Tech

Laurie Orlov — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:01:20 +0000

Outreach to link seniors and computers -- more needed. Although there are multiple approaches to opening up the vast world of the Internet to seniors, rarely do they reach all the way into the home. These include the FloH Club (telephone service), senior centers or SeniorNet (center-based), online training programs (like Computer School For Seniors), or online tech support (crossloop.com). Consider bundled offerings like IN2L that provide access to seniors in senior housing -- or a la carte software like PointerWare. All good, but none involve MyWay Village's Ambassador approach.

How do home care agencies use technology?

Laurie Orlov — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:57:00 +0000

Home care (unlike nursing homes) represent a growth market. Home care agencies are showing solid revenue growth according to the National Private Duty Association (NPDA). Seventy-one percent report that revenue increased from 2008-2009, despite a poor economy and 83% indicate that they are hiring in 2010.

Smoke signals and caregiving apps -- what should they do?

Laurie Orlov — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:54:58 +0000

The year of the 'care'. As one VC executive, Andy Donner of Physic Ventures, noted recently, this is the year of the 'care'. There seems to be a growing list of vendors who are trying to offer some sort of 'keep in touch' product that connects an older person with family members who may live elsewhere. The basic element is to provide some means to signal 'concerned about you' from family members and obtain the response 'I'm all right' from the older family member back to them -- accompanied by the ability to react in the event that the response is not received.

Is the iPad for boomers and seniors? Could be!

Laurie Orlov — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:52:33 +0000

So much iHoopla about the iPad. But as the famous saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and folks at Apple must be having a great time with this. The geeks have weighed in, plenty of snippy negative commentary has been spewed about the Apple iPad (including lots of sophomoric humor about the product name). I particularly enjoyed the whining on the Motley Fool site -- called "Fool Analysts Debate the iPad" which so easily could have been renamed 'Analyst Fools Debate the iPad". The gist, if you haven't the time to read it, is that it is lacking a phone, camera, and USB port, which it must have, they say, wisely speaking entirely from their own geeky user requirements. But what the heck, they're gonna buy one anyway.

Road trip -- possibilities for seniors beyond transportation

Laurie Orlov — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:41:16 +0000

No kidding -- it rained for five days in San Francisco. I just returned from a whirlwind and very windy visit to this beautiful city on the Bay. Despite wind, hail, rain, and lightening (!), I was fortunate to meet with so many inspired and inspiring people! There were pre-launch (stealth) caregiver technology startups, just-launched entrants like Wellcore and post-launch top execs from moving-right-along SilverRide, Caring.com, Presto, Care2, and Jitterbug, as well as leaders from ASA, Menlo Ventures, Physic Ventures and Home Instead -- many of these great connections spearheaded by Mary Furlong, the founder of the Boomer What's Next conference, soon to be held during the upcoming 2010 Aging in America conference in Chicago. It was a great week and thanks to all who took the time and battled the incessant rain to discuss this exciting market and opportunity with me!

Aging in place, living well, thriving at home, welderly, zoomers -- isn't obfuscation great?

Laurie Orlov — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:57:31 +0000

Medicine turned into healthcare, doctors became providers, small coffee cups became tall, exercise became fitness, recycling became a sustainability tactic. So it has come to pass that politically correct eventually becomes...correct. And everything else, therefore becomes incorrect, inappropriate, or even offensive.

The myth of the PC-free life for boomers and seniors

Laurie Orlov — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:08:28 +0000

PCs and MACs represent growth markets in 2010... With the excitement (translate that -- lots of press) about a wide variety of PC-less connection choices for TV, radio, and books, one might almost think the PC and its MAC brethren were dead. Not so fast, PC sales are expected to grow 10% this year and MAC growth expectations are as high as 26%.

How to let others know how your business is doing

Laurie Orlov — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:43:21 +0000

How is a market entrant doing? I have spent much of the past year looking at websites of tech companies in the aging-tech or digital health-tech areas. As part of this look, I am always trying to figure out how these companies are doing. Talking to the company executives is interesting, but the website, to me is very revealing and sometimes contradicts verbal descriptions of momentum. To me, these are visible indicators of company health: