Re-imagining healthcare for tomorrow’s elders

As the Leading Age Annual Meeting EXPO demonstrated, the needs of future seniors have changed. The EXPO traded the proverbial beige cardigan and slippers for Annie Leibovitz as a keynote speaker and a Gin Blossoms concert. Yep, times they are a-changin’. Expectations of how we care for the aging community are changing alongside this shift. As the EXPO highlighted, to improve confidence in our health systems, greater interaction, collaboration and transparency are essential. It’s encouraging to see healthcare providers start to recognize this evolution. But to meet the needs of tomorrow’s older generation, healthcare providers need to be more creative and agile in delivering healthcare, engaging senior patient populations, and meeting their care needs in a way that aligns with how they wish to live and age. This means getting ready to rewrite the rules on caring for the aging.

Tech savvy is the new norm for seniors

Here’s another myth we need to bust. Dubbed the “Silent Generation,” those aged 73-93 have a hard time shaking off a reputation for being “less able” when it comes to technology. However, research reveals that a quarter of people 75+ are using tablets and four in 10 are on social media. This research turns any preconceptions about the opportunity to digitally engage seniors on their head and shows that there is appetite among them to stay connected.

Health wearables and smartwatches today go beyond the simplicity of recording steps to assisting patients by monitoring chronic conditions like diabetes, helping the elderly stay safe or empowering them with greater independence via remote monitoring platforms. I’m proud to say that Philips has accepted the challenge of re-writing the rules for how to care for our senior population. Philips Lifeline offers tools that allow the older generation to live more safely and independently, without feeling overwhelmed through providing safety reassurance, 24-hour 365-day support, and personalized care plans. It’s the kind of tool that fits into a comprehensive populationhealth strategy for a healthcare system. Blue Willow Systems, a recent Philips acquisition, complements the at-home monitoring technologies with solutions for senior living facilities.

Tools such as these help parents and grandparents to be more independent and in control of their health and safety – at home, in a senior living facility and on the go – it also helps their caregivers, doctors and families feel reassured. Healthcare providers can and should be harnessing seniors’ growing digital appetite to empower them to self-monitor their health and self-communicate concerns with professionals -not only to encourage independence, but to monitor acute health issues, intervene when needed and help reduce healthcare resourcing pressures.

Technology as a gateway from dependence to independence

In Toronto, Canada, a novel example of how technology is both supporting seniors and helping a country manage their aging population involves a robot called “Casper” who supports stroke survivors by helping them to do everything - from making a tuna sandwich to communicating with loved ones. With nearly 90% of seniors wanting to stay at home as they age, technologies like this act as the gatekeeper between dependence and independence.

Regardless of geography or mobility, technology can mean the quality of care at home isn’t compromised. Safety buttons mean that emergency support is just one-click away. HomeSafe with AutoAlert, a medical alert service introduced by Philips and Humana at Home, takes this one step further by providing advanced fall detection technology, triggering an automatic notification to call for help quickly.

When speaking with a team member at Philips about what she values about her job, she told me it was the chance to be part of an extended network of virtual care. She said: “They may live alone but they have a whole team of people working for them. It’s inspiring to see how many active, interesting and engaged seniors we have. I spoke to someone who was mixing up a marinade for a pork loin she was going to cook the next day. She sounded energetic and happy. She was 88! She said that she tapped the button by accident, perhaps because of her ‘girlish enthusiasm’ in vigorously scrubbing the pan.”

It’s stories like this that really bring to light the importance of enabling our aging parents and grandparents to stay at home and how technology can provide the means to do this.

Keeping patients out of acute care

As well as elderly patients, healthcare providers also stand to benefit from patients being able to stay at home. Not only does it mean they can better allocate resources, but it means they can use the patient data collected to create personalized care plans that put the patient first. Aggregating and analyzing patient data on a much larger scale – and using technology such as telehealth to be able to host “virtual consultations” with seniors – means that practitioners can identify red flags that contributes to keeping elderly patients out of emergency rooms.

Gripping healthcare by the horns

If we are to take strain off healthcare organizations and empower the elderly with their dignity and independence for longer, we need to embrace technologies that link patients and practitioners together. After all, most care takes place out of the hospital. Using connected technologies will not only give our increasingly aging population more options about where they age and on what terms, it will also allow them to make these choices without having to compromise on the quality or ability to access their healthcare. This approach to providing healthcare goes beyond the individual, spanning further into the larger aging population, making the aging process as dignified and liberating as possible for as many individuals as possible. That is an important part of a comprehensive population health approach. So, let’s toss those plaid blankets, slippers and beige cardigans out the window and go digital. It promises to be liberating.