The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to look to the future and imagine, in LeadingAge parlance, “the world of possibilities for aging.” That’s exactly what we do in this issue of Tech Time.
You’ll find a host of articles in this month’s issue about the exciting possibilities that lie ahead for aging services technologies. We start that look into the future with coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place in early January in Las Vegas. Then we look at:
Important Message from Las Vegas
CES has always been an annual “coming-out party” for emerging technologies. But this year’s show was an important milestone for the field of aging services technologies. The show placed an unprecedented focus on digital health technologies, many of which are specifically targeted to aging baby boomers—future clients and residents of aging services.
The message from Las Vegas was clear: aging services technologies are here to stay and they will only get better in the future. That’s great news for providers of aging services and developers of aging services technologies. But it also gives us a responsibility to make sure that:
- The technologies of the future are the best they can be.
- Those technologies meet the needs of the people we serve.
- We follow best practices when we implement technology-enabled services and supports.
- We keep the technology development pipeline flowing by encouraging the adoption of existing technologies that are “ready for prime time” in appropriate models.
LTPAC Health IT Summit
We’ve learned over the years that no one provider or technology vendor can single-handedly advance the field of aging services technologies. We have to work together. We have to help one another. We won’t reach the goals I just outlined unless we step out of our organizational silos and move beyond our competitive nature.
That’s why this year’s LTPAC Health Information Technology (IT) Summit is so important.
The Summit gives all of us a perfect opportunity to capitalize on the success of CES by helping each another advance health IT priorities, showcase implementation successes, and put the spotlight on LTPAC technologies.
The Summit, which is co-sponsored and co-organized by LeadingAge and CAST, doesn’t take place until June 22-24, 2014. But you need to submit your proposal by Feb. 15 if you would like to present an educational session at this annual gathering.
We need pioneering providers and innovative vendors to come forward to propose sessions that are highly relevant, practical and useful. Each of you has much to share with others in our field. Please see our article about the Summit to find out how you can share your knowledge and expertise with your colleagues so we can move into the future together.
Medication Management is CAST’s New Initiative for 2014
Last month we asked members to provide us with feedback on CAST’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Telehealth initiatives. We also asked you to tell us if you thought a CAST initiative focusing on Medication Management would be useful to you.
The vast majority of CAST Commissioners who completed the surveys, as well as the few respondents from the broader membership and the public, supported a Medication Management initiative. We will soon be forming a workgroup of providers and medication management technology vendors to help us shape and produce a whitepaper, selection matrix, online selection tool and provider case studies.
Let us know if you are interested in participating in this new workgroup or if you would like to be added to workgroups that will help us update the EHR and Telehealth initiatives. Email Zohra Sirat by Feb. 20 to specify which group you’re interested in joining.
In This Issue
This issue of Tech Time welcomes 3 new Supporters and 6 new Associates and shares much good news from CAST Supporters and Business Associates.
Check out our article about how CAST Supporter Healthsense is working with health insurer Humana to improve health outcomes among Humana members with chronic conditions.
Read about CAST Supporters Healthsense and HealthMEDX, and CAST Business Associates AOD Software and MDI Achieve are taking steps to advance awareness about and use of remote patient monitoring and electronic health records.
And don’t miss the article about LeadingAge Member Ecumen’s innovative approach to finding cutting-edge technologies to help its clients and residents age in place.
Finally, I also call your attention to a Feb. 25 deadline for you or a community partner to apply for a federal Telehealth Resource Center Grant. Even if you are not interested in this grant program, check out the Telehealth Resource Centers that are listed at the end of this article. Feel free to call your regional center for help with a telehealth project.
I hope you enjoy these and other articles in this issue of Tech Time. Please contact me with any comments or questions.