Sometimes the best solution is the simplest one. That's what some payers are finding out – that a home monitoring solution that tracks activity, rather than vital signs, can be just as valuable to seniors and their caregivers.
Regence, whose affiliates include Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates in Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Washington, has announced that it offers the Lively activity-sharing platform through a newly created Caregiver and Senior Care products category in its Regence Advantages program.
Lively, launched in 2012 in San Francisco, incorporates sensors applied to everyday objects in the home that measure daily activity. The corresponding mHealth platform tracks daily routines and notifies caregivers if that routine changes.
“An entire ‘sandwiched’ generation is juggling stressful responsibilities with the pressure of raising families, full time jobs and the needs of elder loved ones,” said Iggy Fanlo, Lively's co-founder and CEO, in a press release issued by Regence. “We are elated to hear from families that our technology brings a greater feeling of safety by allowing for timely intervention if anything goes wrong, and cultivates stronger connections between all generations in the family.”
[See also: Healthcare's four-letter word? It's 'silo'.]
Regence officials say they're seeing a growing demand for health services and products that serve older consumers who want to stay at home and the family members who care for them. They point to statistics that indicate one out of every six employees today now serves as a caregiver, with that ratio expected to rise to one in every two adults in the foreseeable future.
Furthermore, according to the AARP, the challenges in balancing work with caregiving duties has cost U.S. employers as much as $33.6 billion a year, or $2,110 per full-time working caregiver.
Lively is part of a growing network of mHealth solutions targeted at the senior and home-based health maintenance market, ranging from simple activity trackers to more complex solutions that capture and chart vital signs and other biometric data. Among the more notable players are IDEAL LIFE, Numera, Caremerge, CarePredict, VideoCare, Independa and Care Technology Systems.
This past February, Lively announced a collaboration with CareMerge, the Chicago-based developer of a communication and care coordination platform for senior care providers, to integrate Lively's sensors into the Caremerge platform.
In an interview with mHealth News earlier this year, Caremerge founder and CEO Asif Khan said home-based monitoring solutions are now popular with senior and assisted living care networks who see the value in monitoring seniors' daily activities and keeping seniors' caregivers updated with that information.
"People are not communicating what's going on." Khan said. "You might be at work, thinking 'Is my Mom being taken care of or is she just sitting in her room looking at the walls?' And you wouldn't have any way of knowing."
"This gives family members and other caregivers proof that their loved ones are being cared for properly," he said, adding it took Caremerge officials several months of studying caregiver workloads and needs to fill out its app.
The market for such services is expanding now, as payers see the value in helping seniors maintain their health at home and avoiding costly medical emergencies. They also see the value it provides to adult caregivers, who have to balance their own home and work lives with responsibilities of caring for older relatives.
Regence's Advantages program offers savings on health-related products and services that help members manage their health and the health of their families. As part of the program, Lively will be made available to Regence members at a 10 percent discount of its retail price.
Regence serves more than 2 million consumers and encompasses Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueSheld in certain counties in Washington.
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