Technology is often associated with the young and youth culture, which may explain what some experts call the “digital health divide” among older healthcare patients. But as the nation's population gets older and digital health becomes more prevalent, there are unprecedented opportunities to use technology to improve senior care.

Technological advancements such as self-monitoring medical devices, smart homes, and telehealth are helping many seniors remain in their homes longer and age in place more safely. Digital tools also play a role in estate planning, allowing you and your loved ones to connect with an attorney and plan for the future more easily.

More Than Half of Older Adults Using Health-Related Tech

Americans are undergoing two cultural shifts with significant overlap: an aging population and the rise of digital healthcare.

From 2000 to 2020, the number of people in the United States aged 65 and older increased from 35 million to 54 million. By 2040, there will be an estimated 80 million Americans aged 65 and over. Those 85 and older, the group that most often needs personal care assistance, will nearly quadruple by 2040 to 15 million.^[1]

People are not just reaching old age in record numbers—they are also living longer. Although overall U.S. life expectancy has fallen, more people are living to be 100 thanks to medical advances.^[2]

Adoption of digital health technologies—including teleconsulting, remote monitoring, wearable devices, health information technology, and health apps—has grown significantly in recent years across all specialties, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. The US digital health market increased more than 20 percent from 2020 to 2021 and is expected to accelerate its growth postpandemic due partly to the increasing elderly population.^[3]

Older adults rapidly adopted healthcare technology during the pandemic (often at higher rates than younger patients), using telehealth, smartphone apps, and other digital health tools to self-manage diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, and meet virtually with providers.^[4]

An overwhelming majority (93 percent) of adults aged 55 and older told U.S. News that aging in place is important to them, and over half said they use health-related technology to reach this goal.^[5] The following types of tools have made it easiest for them to age in place:

●        Medical- and health-related mobile apps

●        Wearable medical and health trackers

●        Assistive smart home technologies

●        Medical alert systems and devices

Eighty-eight percent of respondents stated that health-related technologies have improved their quality of life as they deal with general aging and impairments that negatively affect their mobility, hearing, vision, and cognition. Many also reported that these technologies make them feel more independent, safer, and healthier.^[6]

Trends in Senior Care Technology

Older adults embrace digital technologies at lower rates than younger generations, but the gap is closing. Around three out of four adults aged 65 and older are now internet users, up from just one out of five in 2000. More than half are smartphone owners, and nearly half use social media according to the Pew Research Center.^[7]

Technology has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of eldercare, for the benefit of both seniors and their caregivers. Yet despite higher technology adoption among older Americans and the proven benefits of digital health to aging adults, a so-called digital health divide remains between them and younger users of healthcare technology.^[8]

Overcoming this divide may have been top-of-mind in the Biden Administration when it announced plans to invest $400 billion in eldercare as part of its $2 trillion infrastructure plan. In a fact sheet about the American Jobs Plan, the administration acknowledged the importance of bolstering the eldercare infrastructure by expanding home and community services.

The Gerontechnologist reports that the $400 billion investment “could be like rocket fuel” to a proliferating homecare industry.^[9] Growth in this industry will translate to growth in AgeTech companies—companies that create technology to address the needs of aging populations—as more Medicare and Medicaid services shift from institutions to the home and community.

Thousands of AgeTech companies are currently tackling the challenges of aging, including the following:

●        Mon Ami: Mon Ami builds software solutions to provide social services for older adults, such as a marketplace that connects seniors with college students to address social isolation.^[10]

●        The Helper Bees: This company's innovative Age-In-Place Marketplace connects seniors with fully-vetted, in-home service providers.

●        Vayaar: Israeli firm Vayaar sells a touchless fall detection device that can detect if a person has fallen, even in total darkness.

●        GOGOTECH: Featuring autonomous driving, modular batteries, a rear-view camera system, and other advanced tech, the ABBY power chair from GOGOTECH is the Tesla of wheelchairs.

●        Aidar Health: Through breath and saliva biosensors, Aidar Health's MouthLab measures blood pressure, body temperature, respiration, heart rate, lung function, and pulse to help monitor chronic illnesses.^[11]

●        Tellus: Startup Tellus is driving innovation in AgeTech with technologies such as artificial intelligence, radar, and 3D sensing technology that provide real-time health data monitoring.^[12]

Due to demographics, demand, and digital adoption, the AgeTech market is forecasted to reach $2 trillion, according to The Gerontechnologist.^[13]

Health Tech, Aging in Place, and Estate Planning

Technology has changed not only the practice of medicine but also the practice of law.

As Americans live longer, their situations and needs are changing. These changes may need to be reflected in an updated estate plan. Our estate planning and elder law attorneys can assist with creating legal documents, such as powers of attorney and guardianship and incapacity plans, from the privacy and convenience of your home, using tools like those that let you connect remotely with healthcare providers.

We can also help seniors identify at-home medical technology that addresses their long-term care and desire to age in place and determine whether they qualify for government healthcare benefits. Seniors can find value in engaging in proactive estate planning strategies to better protect their accounts and property from the costs of long-term care. Once long-term care is needed, options will likely become more limited.

To speak with our team about the intersection of technology, health, wealth, and law, please contact us.