Hannah Liberman, Data Specialist at Sensi.AI gives us an overview of top technologies that can help in revolutionizing the home care business.
The end of World War II brought an age of prosperity for the United States, and along with it the baby boom, a generation that saw the largest number of college applicants and the most significant entry of manpower into the workforce. By 2030, the entire baby boomer generation will be 65 and older, and seniors will make up almost a quarter of the entire U.S. population. With the decrease of fertility in the developed world, there are less hands to care for the ever-ageing population, and as adults increasingly choose to age at home, many turn to home-care agencies for long term care.
Even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic most older adults preferred to age in their own homes, with 76% of those aged 65-69 living at home, and 68% of those aged 80 and older. These trends, paired with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the age-care industry opens up a unique opportunity for home-care agencies to provide the solution that allows older adults to age at home with dignity while maintaining a high quality of care.
In order to manage the impending increase in demand for home care services, agencies that want to gain an edge, and provide the best quality of care for their clients, will have to turn to technology to help them manage their business, operations, workforce and ensure quality of care.We have compiled a list of the best technologies that can help revolutionize your home care business, helping to streamline and optimize scheduling, improve efficiency, retain quality workforce and lower risk and liability.
Clear Care
Clear Care is an established tool for homecare agencies, marketing themselves as a one stop shop for homecare agency management. They have hedged a large part of the homecare agency market, serving 8 of the 10 largest homecare agencies in the U.S., including market leaders Home Instead and SeniorHelpers. ClearCare brings the management of a homecare agency into the 21st century, allowing business owners to coordinate scheduling, screen employers, and manage billing all in one place.
GrandPad
GrandPad is an American tech company that developed a tablet that is specifically designed to be used by seniors. The Grandpad allows seniors to communicate with their loved ones, store contacts and photo albums that are typically managed by family members, read news articles and play games. GrandPad has even partnered with Lyft to allow seniors the opportunity to hail rides, increasing their independence and mobility. GrandPad has already partnered with homecare agency Comfort Keepers, while Home Instead Senior Care is a minority investor, and plans to integrate the technology into their services.
CareAcademy
CareAcademy is a tool that helps agency owners train and manage their personnel, by providing digital classes, tailored to each caregiver employed by the agency. After assigning a particular caregiver a class, as well as a due date for completion of the class, CareAcademy follows through by sending reminders to the caregivers. These reminders ensure that classes are completed on time, and that the agency owner has no added management tasks. CareAcademy’s classes are an important tool for ensuring that every caregiver that the agency employs has the necessary state-required training, and the classes also allow each caregiver to continue expanding their capabilities, and to stay updated on new practices and regulations in the care field. This information is logged, providing hassle free compliance automation, and audit-ready logs.
Sensi A.I.
Sensi A.I. focuses on improving quality of care across the board. The company has developed an AI-powered remote care quality management platform, and has secured partnerships with several leading home care agencies in the U.S. Sensi A.I. uses AI audio analysis to provide a homecare agency owner with meaningful insights on caregiver/client pairing, as well as possible areas that caregiver may require additional training in. For a homecare agency owner, whose hardest task is managing employees from afar, Sensi provides peace of mind, and helps eliminate blind-spots, providing full visibility into the agency’s operations through data-based insight and recommendations. Sensi also offers a 24/7 package, to enable the elderly with non-intrusive tech-enabled safety to go about their day when the caregiver is not around.
Bold
Bold is a budding tech company, founded in 2019, that attempts to solve one of the leading causes for injury-related visits to emergency departments for seniors – falls. Falls can be one of the biggest sources of worry for homecare agency owners, as seniors in their care may fall in hours when a caregiver is not around. Solving this issue can assuage misgivings people have when choosing to age in place versus a nursing home, and a business that harnesses this technology can use it as a selling point. Bold does not function as a fall prevention software, but rather provides a digital platform that encourages safe exercises that can be done in the comfort of one’s home, that strengthen key muscle groups and can make falls less likely.
To Conclude: The Covid-19 pandemic has served to show that aging in place will quickly become the safest, and most preferred option for aging. Remaining in the comfort of their home allows seniors to maintain independence and dignity. With this trend, the need for homecare agencies to expand, and to improve their ability to manage a growing number of patients, as well as to gain a competitive edge in an expanding market. The answer to all of these questions is technology, and the agency that harnesses revolutionary age-tech first, will be the agency that succeeds.
