Tag Archive for: GrandCare Systems

EHX TeleHealth & Digital Home Health Technology Session

Collaboration: The Integrator’s Role in TeleHealth & Digital Home Health Technology 

You’ve heard all about Digital Home Health Technology and why it’s going to be the way of the future, but where do integrators come in?

With recent healthcare legislation, hospital systems and payers are being forced to become accountable for improving patient outcomes, while reducing the cost of care delivery. The care delivery network is focusing on telehealth & remote monitoring technologies to help care for the highest risk population in the lowest cost setting – the patient’s home.

However, hospitals and payer systems are tuned for executing today’s care delivery model, but who will focus on technology and services needed for tomorrow? This session will explore the opportunities and role of the solutions integrator as an integral piece of the care transition puzzle.

Presented by:


Instructor:Alex Go, Virtual Health


Instructor:Jeffrey Makowka, AARP


Instructor:Laura Mitchell, GrandCare Systems

Course Code
CE Pro #115
Schedule
Friday, March 16, 2012
10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Room CI Stage

More Information available at www.ehxweb.com/classes/ce-pro-115

Home Health Tech Launches Specialty Health Store

First of its kind, new website offers digital solutions for independently living.

Submitted to HomeToys.com on: 02/24/2012, 7:59 am

Home Health Tech by Home Controls has launched a fully-functional retail web store specializing in products that help the growing senior population live independently. The online store is at www.HomeHealthTechStore.com, and orders can also be placed by calling 888-220-7690.

Home Health Tech by Home Controls is the first store of its kind to provide high-tech products targeting the senior market, promoting the philosophy that a bit of technology can provide a safer and healthier environment. The products available at Home Health Tech are ideal for people living independently, their families, caregivers, health partners and care facilities.

“Home Health Tech by Home Controls is now a one-stop shop for a wide variety of simple digital products for our aging Boomer generation,” says Ken Kerr, President of Home Controls, Inc. “There is a great demand for these digital products to help seniors stay in their homes longer and live better and safer lives while doing so.”

Home Health Tech by Home Controls has partnered with some of the nation’s leading manufacturer’s to provide a comprehensive assortment of home health tech systems, covering digital health systems, safety and security, personal health, communication, cognition and more.

Featured product lines include caregiver assistance systems from GrandCare, amplified telephones from ClearSounds and Amplicom, personal emergency response systems (PERS) from Linear and LogicMark, personal health products from A&D Medical, medication management tools from MedFolio, MedReady and MedMinder, cognition tools from Dakim, and communication systems from Presto. Home Health Tech also offers remote controlled doors and windows, automatic lighting, sensor pads, wanderer alerts, flood and fire prevention systems, and much more.

“These products are state-of-the-art and very simple to use, helping those seniors who want to age in their own homes and helping their family and caregivers, too,” Kerr says.

In addition, Home Health Tech by Home Controls offers several programs for integrators and health professionals working in the independent living or aging in place markets. These programs offer special wholesale pricing, extended technical support, customized marketing support, system training, networking and more.

“Many integrators are looking to get into the rapidly growing home health tech market, but don’t know where to go for advice and products to fill the demand,” Kerr says. “Now integrators have a one-stop shop for information, marketing materials, and a wide variety of products aimed at the aging-in-place market.”

Companies working in aging and technology band together

www.bizjournals.com
Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal by Diana Samuels, Reporterh

If there is anyone who has a broad understanding of how companies are using technology to help improve the lives of seniors, it is Peter Radsliff.

Radsliff leads a nonprofit consortium of nearly 70 businesses that work in fields related to aging and technology, called the Aging Technology Alliance or AgeTek. I spoke with him about trends in the industry for a story in this week’s Business Journal.

The organization was founded in 2009, in an organic fashion. Radsliff said it all started when he spoke at a conference on technology and aging, and the CEO of GrandCare Systems [Charlie Hillman], a company in the space, was in the audience. The company got in touch with Radsliff and asked him to speak as part of a webinar [What is now the Aging and Technology Webinar]. But the day of the webinar, Radsliff finished his talk early. Left without a specific subject to speak about, he started reflecting on how hard business was during the recession.

“I just threw it out there, I said, ‘Would anybody be interested in doing any co-marketing, or sharing of best practices, or any other kind of back-scratching activity to help each other as small business people?'” he said. “The outpouring from them was phenomenal. It kind of set me aback actually.” Of course, then he also ended up running the organization.

“I realized, ‘Great, I now have another full-time job on top of my day job,” said Radsliff jokingly, who is also CEO of Los Altos-based Presto. The company makes a system that automatically prints out emails for seniors or others who don’t have a computers.

Radsliff said AgeTek aims to “look after the business needs of its members.” “We each try to help each other to do what the company needs,” he said. “That can be anywhere from facilitated access to other companies, it could just be just making relationships and finding synergies.”

Transforming Social Media for the Senior Community With Brian Lang

Thursday, March 1st 2pm ET – 1pm CT – grandcaresystems.webex.com
Call in: 1-408-600-3600 – Pin: 660 464 102#

Today 40 million people are over 65 – the largest and fastest growing demographic in America. With Baby Boomers retiring, over 10,000 people a day turn 65, a trend that will continue over the next decade. Americans age 50+ are increasingly likely to have a cell phone, a laptop or tablet, or a game console, and represent the fastest growing age segment to adopt to social networking and hypernet technology. What’s the opportunity? A connected lifestyle that blurs boundaries across home, work, leisure, and retirement, smoothly connecting our online and offline lives. Unfortunately, this tech-enabled lifestyle is not yet widespread among older age ranges, hampered by technology choices that are complex and difficult to use. To enable a connected living and social aging experience for older consumers, vendors need to begin to design for all, and entrepreneurs and the venture community need a more dynamic relationship with this huge and underserved growth market.

Brian Lang, CEO of Seniors In Touch

Brian is a serial entrepreneur and social media executive with over 20 years of experience with interactive media. During the late 90′s he founded an online venture that partnered with Digital Equipment Corporation to create OnePlace.com, one of the earliest and still one of the most successful faith-based online communities. He has been a thought-leader dating back to 1999 when he authored the pioneering book, “Making the Internet Family-friendly,” for Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Brian is a champion of combining social media and health care for senior adults, is a speaker at senior living industry events, and authors for noted health care publications. His company provides a touchscreen and cloud-based social media and health care solution to senior living communities nationwide.

GrandCare is sponsoring the 9th Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit – next month!

This year’s Summit theme is What’s Next: The New Normal. It will showcase the groundswell in social media, the surge in the services economy and the rise of the independent sector.

2012 What’s Next Boomer Business Summit
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, DC

Besides fantastic networking, the educational sessions provided at What’s Next Boomer Summit are top notch. Featuring speakers from companies such as the National Alliance for Caregiving, Forbes Magazine, AARP, United Health Group, GrandCare Systems, CNN, Best Buy, Google, Best Buy, etc.  See the full educational agenda here
GrandCare is sponsoring the What’s Next Boomer Summit next month in Washington, DC. It’s not too late to register to attend, exhibit or sponsor this event.  Touted as one of the best networking events of the year, this conference is not to be missed.  The event is sponsored by AARP as well as United Health Group, Continuum Crew, Caring.com, General Mills, MetLife, etc.  See a full listing of sponsors here

 

What’s Next Boomer Summit Flyer

 

There are great opportunities to exhibit your technology at this conference…For additional exhibit information and pricing, please contact:

Jo Anne Morrison
joannefmorrison@aol.com

Boomers and seniors are facing the daunting reality of the downshift in the prospects of the US economy. They face smaller returns on savings, pensions in doubt and underfunded, unanticipated caregiving costs that last decades, not years, combined with an increasing financial responsibility for adult children, grandchildren, and extended families. This is causing a shift in how they plan, spend, learn, and save. Discover the brands that are rising to the occasion to serve their needs. Discover how they are using online tools to manage money and evaluate credit and other banking options. Learn where they are shopping online and offline and discover how marketers are reaching them and learn what consumer protection groups are putting in place to protect them from fraud. Also, learn about the growth of emerging markets and the global aging landscape.

For more information visit: boomersummit.com

GrandCare Systems in the WB Daily News

GrandCare Receives AARP Sterling Award

West Bend Daily News;Date: Feb 3, 2012;Section: Front Page;Page: A2


GrandCare Systems founder Charlie Hillman, left, recieves the Sterling Award from Jody Holtzman of AARP.

West Bend-based GrandCare Systems won the first Sterling Awards competition in the health and wellness category during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sponsored by AARP, the Sterling Awards identify the best in technology innovation and product excellence for Americans age 50 and older. “We are honored to accept this prestigious award,” said Charlie Hillman, GrandCare founder. “We share the passion of AARP to forge a better future for our aging population and we are encouraged to continue developing innovation technologies that make aging and ‘healing in place’ safer, happier, healthier and more cost-effective.”

Founded in 2005, GrandCare is a pioneer in the digital home health care industry. The company currently has 12 employees, but Hillman said he expects that to grow as new subscribers sign up.

GrandCare offers a senior-friendly, Internet-enabled, touch-based system aimed at maintaining independence at home, instead of in an assisted living facility. The system, which costs approximately $99 a month, helps control chronic conditions, increases

compliance, strengthens family connections and reduces hospital readmissions, said Laura Mitchell, GrandCare vice president of marketing. It combines technologies to provide activity monitoring, medication management, wellness monitoring, video chatting and social connectivity into an interactive product that can be learned by any senior citizen, she said.

Laura Mitchell, GrandCare Systems vice president of marketing, addresses the crowd during the Silvers Summit awards ceremony.

The unit, which is essentially a touch-screen computer monitor on steroids, can monitor seemingly simple tasks – like lighting, temperature and appliance shut off – to complex ones, like wireless pulse readings, glucose levels and interaction with hand-held electrocardiographs. It also provides social interaction tools, like video chats with family and care professionals, as well as games, music, calendars and trivia.

The purpose of the inaugural Sterling Awards is to identify products that enhance, empower and exemplify the lifestyles of those 50 and older.

Award winners were chosen by a panel of judges from Aging in Place Technology Watch, AARP, Carnegie Mellon University, Care2, Compelling Telling, Continua Health Alliance, Mary Furlong and Associates, National Alliance for Caregiving, NPR Labs, PBS Kids Interaction, SmartSilvers Alliance and Vibrant Nation.

Customer Engagement in 2012:

Leveraging Social Media and Online Communities to Expand and Retain your Customers

Thursday, Febuary 16th 2pm ET – 1pm CT

Watch/Download

With guest speaker Ron Repking

Connecting with customers to drive more business has become easier as more and more seniors get online. Social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others provide a way for companies to connect with these consumers.  However, these outlets are controlled by third parties and don’t allow you to harness your users fully for your own benefit.  Creating your own presence under your control solves this problem and enables you to engage with your customers on your own turf.

In this webinar you will learn about:

  • The evolution and impact of social media and engagement
  • The components of a comprehensive engagement model
  • How to leverage these components to own and control your audience message

Ron Repking

Ron Repking is the owner and CEO of Capable Networks, a company focused exclusively on helping companies engage with their customers through online communities and social media.  Frustrated with traditional methodologies and strategies, Ron founded Capable Networks in order to bring a new perspective and approach to customer engagement online.  Ron is an expert in social media and assisting companies in the migration to new techniques and strategies in this field since the founding of his company in 2004.  Ron graduated Cum Laude from the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana in 1990.

An Overview of AARP’s Innovation@50+ program

Download

With Jeff Makowka,  Senior Strategic Advisor, Thought Leadership

In late 2010, AARP created a new group focused on Thought Leadership with the mission of exploring and establishing new ways in which AARP can achieve its social mission: “to improve the quality of life for all as they age”. The Innovation@50+ program is the group’s flagship campaign to engage both the investment and entrepreneurial communities to stimulate innovation to meet the needs and wants of people over 50.

Thursday, February 2nd @https://grandcaresystems.webex.com

 

Jeff Makowka

Jeff has over a decade of experience in strategic analysis, management consulting and market research. For over 5 years, he has been focused on the wants and needs of the 50+ both domestically and internationally.

As Senior Strategic Advisor in AARP’s newly formed Thought Leadership group, he supports AARP’s Innovation@50+ Program which aims to spark innovation and entrepreneurial activity across public and private sectors. Anchored by AARP’s social mission – to enhance the quality of life for all as we age – the program enlists the expertise of visionary aging & technology thinkers, and builds the business case for all sectors to collaborate on meeting the needs and wants of people over 50.

In Response to: Joe Coughlin’s It’s the Services Stupid”

I just read an extremely insightful blog entry called

It’s the Services Stupid! Transforming Old Age & New Technology Into Business Innovation

by one of my favorites in the industry, Joseph F Coughlin.

I have included a link to his blog entry below, but he basically starts out with “There is not a shortage of technology being developed for old age so why haven’t these gadgets flooded retail shelves or become a routine government procurement tantalizing contractors in the Fed’s Commerce Business Daily? President Bill Clinton’s advisor James Carville coined the phrase ‘it’s the economy stupid’ to capture what the 1992 American public was most concerned about – the economy. Today’s investors, technology researchers and the aging community need to see the promise of technology but understand what older people, families and payers really care about – complete service solutions that lead to improved outcomes in living.”
… this kind of thing has been on my mind these days…what are the stumbling blocks and what can we do to overcome them? Here is my list of just some initial hurdles that we need to get through in order to get to the point where Digital Home Health Technology & Services can easily be deployed in a retail situation or in a medical situation:
1. REIMBURSEMENT!!! Insurance providers and Medicare providers need to recognize telehealth & remote monitoring as worthwhile and cost-effective investments…they will save money. How many studies do we need to prove this is the case? In the same way that computers saved banks money (eventually, after the learning curves)….this will be a huge cost savings (not to mention, we simply don’t have the physical caregivers nor the brick and mortar to support the massive disruptive demographics)
2. Hardware costs need to come down!  Just like the early laptops and cell phones, the cost of the touchcomputers and bluetooth enabled telehealth devices are significant….mass adoption will drive these costs down and make the solutions more affordable to the software developers and end-users.
3. Acceptance of the public!  This will come with time…GrandCare has been in this market since Jan 2005 and the acceptance has already grown by leaps and bounds (maybe not as fast as we expected), but it’s coming around. People are starting to understand WHAT this is and HOW it can apply to their own lives.
4. Acceptance in the Long Term Care & In-Home Care industry. Again…we are getting there…moving there. It is changing from being viewed as competition to being viewed as a caregiving tool…but how do they best utilize and who should play that role? Plays into #5.
5. There is a new role that will be created for the person that can help implement the right technology into the right situation. Just like in the 90’s when a brand new job role emerged (IT)…there is a need for someone that has enough technical know-how, with a healthcare/caregiving background. This person would be responsible for helping a person transition from hospital to home or even to develop a care plan that married hands-on care along with technology…  I wrote about this new role in my white paper “Healing in Place”: Mitigating Hospital Readmissions Using Technology –
6. Business Models!! We need to create sufficient business models for in-home care providers, hospitals & Long Term Care Facilities. How do they charge? How should they monitor? How should they deploy? We need to define the exact process…in fact, I am working on defining this process at the moment for in-home care providers. What new roles they may need to hire, what an example charge could be and how they might utilize the socialization piece, perhaps add some in-home hands-on care and supplement with 24-7 monitoring.
Thanks again for your thoughtful post Dr. Coughlin!
-Laura Mitchell
GrandCare Systems
www.grandcare.com
reposted on http://www.grandcare.wordpress.com
Read the full blog entry here

“The GrandCare technology is result driven; a proactive versus reactive care solution” – Stacey Pierce, Director of LIVE@HOME Technologies

Testimonial from Stacey Pierce, Director of LIVE@HOME Technologies:

LIVE@HOME Technologies understands the new frontier of in-home care through technology, using both low and high tech technology to meet the needs of our clients. We use everything from telephone check ins, Personal Emergency Response Units and Remote Telehealth & Activity of Daily Living Monitoring Systems such as GrandCare Systems. The GrandCare technology is result driven; a “proactive versus reactive care solution”. As one example, Mr. C has had many heart surgeries, Congestive Heart Failure, and Diabetes. We have worked with his doctors to set wellness parameters and goals to prevent a future “event”. This type of awareness and proactive care can mitigate hospital stays and detect potential symptoms before it becomes life-threatening. Using GrandCare technology, we have kept Mr. C in his home for two years now, saving him and his family, roughly $112,000.

In home care can be very expensive and many simply cannot afford or do not need 24 hours of hands-on care. We utilize technology, such as GrandCare Systems, to work in conjunction with professional caregiving staff. Live@Home Technologies has placed GrandCare technology in many homes, not only as a cost- effective way to stay at home, but also to assess if and when additional care might be warranted.

Live@Home Technologies has also designed programs to save money for Long Term Care Facilities as well as their residents. The average cost of Independent Living at The Oaks, a CCRC in South Carolina, is $2,000.00 per month and goes up to $3,5000.00 for Assisted Living. Live@Home Technologies implemented a new “Monitoring Independent Area of Living” program at the Oaks by using GrandCare motion, door and bed sensor technology to monitor several residents at once. This concept allows the Oaks to reduce unnecessary footsteps and save money by making fewer caregivers more efficient and effective. Each resident has seen a cost savings of $1200.00 per month, that’s almost $15,000.00 per year.

Through the setting of individual rules, we monitor activities such as wandering, being out of bed, leaving apartments in middle of night, not accessing medications, or too much motion in bathroom; all of which have been directly related to UTIs, medications not being taken properly and increased Sundowners. Using the GrandCare technology, we assess each individual’s ADLs, allowing us to be proactive and respond to any notable changes in daily life. Although, technology does not replace care giving and human touch, it can be a helpful tool to gain information on a possible event, save health care costs and give an added peace of mind, while staying at home.

We eagerly anticipate the many exciting ways we can take advantage of the advances in technology to provide top-notch in-home care that meets the demands of our caregiving staff, our residents and their family members.

-Stacey Pierce
Director of LIVE@HOME Technologies

 

About LIVE@HOME Technologies

The Methodist Oaks has more than 50 years of experience of mission and ministry with seniors giving care and services at our Faith Based Continuing Care Retirement Community (www.theoakssc.com). In the last few years, recognizing the need to expand our care giving to a greater community, the Board of The Oaks made the decision to offer our expertise in the integration of Care and Technology throughout South Carolina and portions of North Carolina and Georgia.

The Oaks created LIVE@HOME Technologies to offer the latest in rapidly changing technological advances to assist people in staying at home. LIVE@HOME Technologies constantly researches and test various technologies which are available and utilizes that which best suits the client’s situation. LIVE@HOME Technologies learned early on that the most critical step of helping people stay at home rather than moving to an Assisted Living or other living option is the evaluation of the needs and desires of the potential client and the family.