As people live longer and chronic diseases become more common, the need for innovative healthcare technology solutions in home care is growing. Investing in these technologies is essential to keep up with the increasing demand for home-based care. Advances in healthcare technology are crucial to sustaining our healthcare system as more people choose to age in place. Better home care solutions can delay the need for institutional care, improve the quality of life for the elderly, and save the healthcare system significant resources. Home care is generally more cost-effective than long-term care facilities for supporting seniors with health conditions.
Why Healthcare Technology-Based Solutions?
The Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) highlights that healthcare technology advancements have opened new possibilities for care delivery, such as:
- Integrating monitoring and therapeutic systems
- Offering educational opportunities for providers, patients, and families
- Facilitating better communication and data sharing among healthcare teams
The CHCA suggests that these mobile, user-friendly healthcare technology solutions will fundamentally change how we approach healthcare, leading to more efficient and personalized care. This shift will allow individuals to gain more independence, stay in their homes longer, engage more in their care, and provide better support for family caregivers.
Recently, the BC provincial government introduced an initiative to help seniors safely age in place by equipping their homes with healthcare technology for virtual care and monitoring. The program, called “The Long-term Care at Home program” (LTC@Home), uses healthcare technology to monitor seniors for fall detection, activity levels, medication adherence, wandering, and vital signs. The program is tailored to individual needs and monitored by a care team that responds to alerts. It also includes respite care to help prevent caregiver burnout, allowing loved ones to stay at home longer.
Though this program is still in its early stages, it will expand across BC in the coming years. To qualify, seniors must meet one of the following criteria:
- Be on or eligible for the long-term care waitlist and live at home with a primary caregiver (family or friend)
- Be on or eligible for the assisted living waitlist and living at home
- Live at home, with or without a caregiver, capable of managing daily activities but at risk of isolation, falls, or needing vitals monitoring or medication dispensing
As baby boomers reach their 80s, they will need to embrace these healthcare technology-based home care solutions. It’s the only way our struggling public healthcare system can meet the growing demands of this generation as they age in place. As a result, we can expect continued investment in the “age-tech” space from both government and private sectors in the years ahead.
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