For long-term care, seniors have a few options — including nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and home care — and as technology changes, these options may shift, according to a HHAeXchange report.
For the report, titled The State of Home Care in America 2017, the home care software company surveyed more than 250 respondents, including those who were receiving home care or those managing another individual's home care.
HHAeXchange found that 66.5 percent of respondents said wearables will be an important part of home care in the future. Here are the top five ways respondents said wearables will impact home care.
- To alert home care providers about unusual activities, including changes in activity level, temperature or heartbeat: 52 percent
- To alert home care providers about regular activities, including appointments, prescription pick-ups and meal times: 50.2 percent
- To monitor home care providers to ensure they are billed the correct hours: 48.7 percent
- To send real-time alerts from a home care agency to a member or contact person: 39.8 percent
- To diagnose potential ailments in home care recipients: 39 percent
However, respondents also identified a few challenges to implementing wearables in home care such as the home care industry being slow to adopt new technology (52 percent), caregivers potentially disregarding alerts (39.8 percent) and technology currently lacking sufficient capabilities (25.3 percent).
Click here to view the full report.