According to the American Medical Student Association, the population of individuals over the age of 65 will increase by 73 percent between 2010 and 2030, meaning 1 in 5 Americans will be a senior citizen. For the next 20 years, about 3 million baby boomers will hit retirement age yearly.
With the tsunami wave of boomers getting older and multiple chronic conditions is set to place a tremendous financial burden on the US healthcare system, especially as it related to Medicare. Census Bureau estimates indicate the number of boomers entering retirement age each year will continue to grow at double-digit rates through 2021. That will push the proportion of Medicare-eligible Americans to 20 percent in 2029, from an estimated 13 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, the percentage of people ages 18 to 65 — and in a position to pay into Medicare — will drop to an estimated 57 percent by 2029 from 63 percent in 2011.
Despite the ever-growing financial burden of seniors on the healthcare system, there’s a lot to be optimistic about, according to a recent Forbes article by Unity Stoakes, President of StartUp Health, a global health innovation company. ” There’s a rapidly emerging ecosystem of innovators focusing on transforming the entire market,” Stoakes states.
This week in Kentucky at Louisville Innovation Summit with a group of healthcare leaders and entrepreneurs, Stoakes offered the following 10 biggest transformations changing the future of aging care during a panel discussion:
1. Home care
A wave of new solutions making it easier for people to stay in their home longer and enabling home care delivery.
2. Virtual health
From telehealth to remote monitoring, the digital health revolution is making care anywhere possible. Not only at home, but on the go, persistently.
3. Consumerism
The empowered patient and skyrocketing consumer demand for information, access, and control is changing the market.
4. Price transparency
The ability to understand and shop around for pricing is changing the power dynamic of healthcare at all levels.
5. Data liberation
Interoperability and connectivity layers are changing how providers, family, and caregivers interact.
6. Caregiver platforms
Marketplaces are empowering patients, families and caregivers to create better care, accountability and reduce costs.
7. Design
An emphasis on personalized design and usability for all is simplifying and leaping aging care forward in elegant ways.
8. Vitality
A focus on wellness and lifestyle is shifting the focus of health from just treatment to prevention and living well.
9. Longevity
An understanding that we are living longer, healthier lives. 90 is the new 65.
10. Market focus
Once a neglected area of innovation, entrepreneurs, innovators and investors are passionately rethinking the entire aging care market. And this will have profound implications for generations to come…
