This can’t be your grandfather’s healthcare IT.
There has long been the stereotype that seniors citizens are bad with computer and technology. This has been the prevailing view largely because it has been true; seniors who came of age before the computer revolution have had a tough time coping with the dramatic change in information technology. But as the Babyboomers mature into old age, they are bringing with them a much more tech-savvy approach.
This change in computer knowledge will have a big impact on healthcare.
That’s because roughly 3.5 million U.S. citizens are expected to reach the age of 65 every year through 2023, according to an Accenture study. These new seniors know technology and are ready to use it as their health starts to decline.
“Among the people already in their elderly years, they're not technology experts because they didn't grow up with it," said Bill Novelli, a professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, in a recent InformationWeek article. "But as boomers age, they're much more facile with technology."
Remote patient monitoring is not enough, either.
Roughly 73 percent of Babyboomers and Generation Xers want to age in their own home, according to a Georgetown study. Most don’t think the technology currently is there to do it, though.
New seniors want community engagement, for one. And with their children living and dying by social networks and mobile connectivity, they know it is possible.
"When people are at home and not connected, social isolation is debilitating," noted Novelli. "People want to be connected and feel productive. These are the things technology can help with—interconnectivity and coordination."
Three out of every five seniors thinks that access to health records is important, too, but less than 2 in five actually has access to those records.
Computer-savvy seniors will not stand for this long; the Babyboom generation is going to push healthcare toward a much more connected, Internet-savvy model.
“Just as seniors are turning to the Internet for banking, shopping, entertainment and communications, they also expect to handle certain aspects of their healthcare services online,” Jill Dailey, managing director of payer strategy at Accenture Health, told InformationWeek recently. “What this means for providers and health plans is that they’ll need to expand their digital options if they want to attract older patients and help them track and manage their care outside their doctor’s office.”
Health providers better be ready.
Edited by
Cassandra Tucker
