The Promise and Perils of Technology for Seniors’ Health
VIDEO (coming soon)
Today we are witnessing two demographic trends that have vast societal implications. The number of older adults, especially those 75 and older is increasing dramatically. At the same time, rapid technological developments are transforming the way people perform work, educational, and daily living tasks. This panel will explore the promise of technology in transforming health care delivery – with in-home monitoring, interactive communication between patient and provider, the transfer of information, and peer support. Panelists will offer insight into the opportunities that arise as people of all ages learn to adapt to these technology systems in order to perform routine tasks and function independently.
Today’s communication technologies have the potential to enhance the health of older Americans and save billions of dollars on their care, but they must be designed and presented so that seniors understand how to use them.
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Panelists (L-R) Alan Wheatley, Vice President
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Because seniors may have mobility issues or be homebound, remote-medicine technologies and Web-based information exchanges may be particularly useful in meeting their health care needs, said experts in the session “Elderly Adopters: Older Adults and the Promise of Health Care Technologies,” held during the University of Miami Global Business Forum, Jan. 12–14, 2011.
Telemedicine, for example, can make checkups easier for both patient and provider. “There are a lot of logistical advantages in terms of eliminating the need for both patients and health care providers to travel to and from the clinic or to a patient’s home. That’s especially beneficial for people with mobility limitations,” said Sara J. Czaja, co-director of UM’s Center on Aging and director of the Center on Research and Education for Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) at UM’s Miller School of Medicine.
Some companies are exploring the use of patient portals to check test results and prescriptions. They are also looking at using video phones to provide support groups for home health care workers, and to allow providers and family members to communicate with one another wherever they are.
“What’s talked about a lot is that health websites and things like patient portals for electronic health records will ultimately empower patients. In other words, it will make them well informed, they’ll have better information about their health, they’ll be able to communicate better with their physician,” said Czaja, who nonetheless was clear that effectiveness data are still not strong enough to fully support industry assumptions.
There are plenty of challenges, including cost, to introducing technology and providing technical support. Interface and usability issues loom large. Joseph Sharit, a research professor at CREATE and in the College of Engineering’s industrial engineering department, presented findings from the center’s studies showing that older Internet users had trouble finding information online and with “the mechanics of an Internet search.” However, when they found what they were looking for, they typically considered the information credible.
“Unless these issues are resolved, I don’t think the potential of all these tools and systems is going to be realized for a large portion of our population, and that may lead to an increase in haves and have-nots or health care disparities,” Czaja said.
That potential, according to many panelists, may begin with the move to electronic medical records. Alan Wheatley, vice president and CFO of senior products at Humana, said he believes that electronic medical records “will drive unbelievably improved quality of care and improved decision making for not only our senior population but for all.” From a cost standpoint, he estimates that EMRs will save hundreds of millions of dollars.
Mobile technology is finding a place in pre- and post-operative education, communicating clinical status and checking adherence to pharmaceuticals. The latter is a particularly attractive opportunity, since noncompliance to treatment costs $290 billion annually, according to Barry Hix, director of health solutions for the mobile platform company 3Cinteractive.
Seniors are becoming increasingly savvy with mobile technologies — largely driven by social pressures and their desire to communicate with children and grandchildren. By 2012, Hix said, 80 percent of the over-65 population will have sent a text message. Yet, he noted, “you don’t get much experimentation, so you better get it right the first time with the senior audience.” He also emphasized the need for mobile phone carriers to adapt to the market and for new phones to address some of that group’s physical and cognitive barriers.
The social aspects of today’s communication technologies present opportunities for increasing senior wellness as well. Health care providers and researchers are looking at how technology can provide seniors with greater resources to “figure out how to live longer and live better, and get better information to become more engaged with their health,” Wheatley said.
Both Wheatley and Czaja mentioned the use of texting, mobile Web and the Internet as a way to battle depression and loneliness within the elderly population. While Czaja spoke of connecting via support groups for seniors and their caregivers, Wheatley took a broader view of the potential for reducing and eliminating the feelings of isolation that can often amplify health issues.
“You’ll be able to leverage technology in a way that our parents never did,” he told the crowd. “And because of that you’ll be able to live a longer, happier, better life.”
