At first, it might seem curious that Archstone Foundation staff members would spend several days at the largest tech trade show in the world. But once you remember that improving technology is one of the three pillars of our strategy for bettering the lives of older Californians and their caregivers, putting eyes on the myriad offerings at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show makes perfect sense.
Exploring the expansive CES event in Las Vegas – stocked with dozens of innovations designed to better our health and assist older people – is already helping Archstone Foundation bring the future to its grantmaking. Our discussion of health information exchange and technology has only intensified in recent weeks, as we look into the ways funders might make the technology that improves the lives of older adults more scalable, sustainable, and accessible.
Work to advance our technology strategy has included retaining Manatt Health Strategies to develop a Strategic Landscape, Opportunities Assessment and Funding Priorities report, which examines California's data exchange landscape and suggests where Foundation investments could have maximum impact. The initial findings suggest focusing on partnerships and collaboration, research and evaluation, and funding for pilot programs – all with an explicit emphasis on advancing equity and reducing health disparities. Two of the top ideas we will be pursuing:
- Building on the structure of CalAIM, the state’s plan for transforming and strengthening its Medi-Cal (Medicaid) program, for referring beneficiaries to community supports and Enhanced Case Management.
- Identifying opportunities related to the build-out of the California Department of Aging’s new IT infrastructure, which seeks to help Aging Network entities participate in CalAIM and the Aging and Disability Resource Connection and No Wrong Door programs.
Additionally, Archstone Foundation will advocate for the state to give its citizens and their caregivers the right to review their personal health data, access care plans, and more easily receive referrals to community-based organizations, among other priorities.
We will soon release the final report from Manatt and will host a webinar on March 10 to discuss the findings. Stay tuned for details. Now, back to our discoveries at CES.
Innovation to Help Those We Help
Vice President of Programs Laura Rath and I, along with representatives from several other Grantmakers in Aging member organizations, were the grateful guests at CES courtesy of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation and its executive director, Stephen Ewell, who hosted us on a special funder’s tour. We were wowed at the offerings – some by the 331 Fortune 500 companies displaying their latest ideas, others by singular entrepreneurs – that promise to improve lives through digital health, artificial intelligence, connectivity, and many other innovations.
Two startups particularly impressed us because of their potential to help the same people we serve. The winner of the CTA Foundation’s “pitch competition,” Goodmaps, creates detailed indoor and outdoor maps that are accessible on an app that aids navigation of unfamiliar surroundings by the visually impaired and others.
Another standout was Biomotum, which is developing a range of “smart” and lightweight exoskeletons that improve the mobility of people with otherwise limited motion because of cerebral palsy, orthopedic injury, or missing limbs.
Such pitch competitions aim to spark tech companies to think more about innovations that could solve real-world challenges connected to the often-overlooked issues of aging.
The AARP AgeTech Collaborative, which has become a tremendous incubator of startups focused on improving the lives of older adults, hosted its own pitch competition and the winner was Onward, a rideshare service customized to the needs of older adult communities, health care providers, and the older or disabled people they serve.
A Global Focus on Aging
The United States is far from alone in having a rapidly aging population. And so many companies from the 177 nations represented at CES displayed products and services designed to benefit older adults.
Japan’s SoundFun, for example, showcased its Mirai Speaker, which improves speech and dialog for those with hearing loss. Far more ambitious was the project to turn Fukuoka, Japan, into the biggest “smart city” in the world – with benefits for older adults such as a network of shared vehicles, fleets of self-driving cars, personal monitoring systems, and safe spaces designed in preparation for disasters or emergencies. (Having witnessed the foundations for many of these innovations on a recent visit to Japan, it’s easy to see how smart technology will make it easier for people to successfully age in place.)
As Japan, Korea, Italy, and other countries seek to adapt to their rapidly increasing populations of older adults, it is critical that funders in the United States take note of their successes and failures.
Intelligent Tools That Put the Person First
Across the CES exhibition floors, consumers were being placed at the forefront of many products and services, and many were about digital health and age technology. Several companies revealed their interest in collecting health data using wearables and home devices – among them MedWand, which seeks to empower patients to collect their own data in advance of telehealth visits. Other smart devices – including augmented reality glasses with real-time closed captioning and toilets that monitor various biomarkers – showed other possibilities for connectivity to improve health.
Enabling much of this technology to flourish is the boon in artificial intelligence and its power to rapidly parse enormous amounts of data – a miraculous development that nonetheless raises concerns about the sharing of all that data and who controls it. Additionally, many smart devices only work for those with who have access to constant broadband internet, can visit healthcare systems routinely, and can pay a premium price. Attention must be paid to ensuring the benefits of high-tech health care and aging services are available to older adults of color, or who are living in rural areas, of limited economic means, or otherwise historically marginalized groups. While the future seems closer than ever, these issues will need to be addressed before we can realize the full potential of all the potentially wondrous innovations on display at CES.
