Societal forces are pushing healthcare out of hospitals and into the home.  Healthcare professionals have new incentives to care about the behavior of their patients, in between hospital visits. Many patients are taking more ownership of their health and healthcare.  Soon one in three Americans will be over the age of 65 and almost 90 million people will be over the age of 85. Approximately 11,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every single day. Most of these people want to continue living independently in their homes as long as possible. These consumers will demand a paradigm shift in which they can receive healthcare services, use educational content and respond to employment opportunities “On Demand”, when they need/want them, not just when the store, office or clinic is open.

In the future, our homes and cars will identify us and unlock the doors by reading our heartbeats. These homes will diagnose health issues and instantly deliver treatments, sometimes before we even know there is an issue. They will use cloud based artificial intelligence, machine learning and smart devices in the home, to prevent serious health problems from ever even occurring.  Residents, caregivers and homeowners will have unprecedented ability to engage, monitor and manage their health and the care of loved ones anytime, anywhere.

Smartcare Communities are about reimagining living spaces into residential networked community dwellings that are optimized for health.

SmartCare community residents who need health services could receive televisits through flat screen TV’s located in the privacy of their apartments. Alternatively, they could walk down to the community urgent care center if they like. Also, residents could even receive in person, robot or avatar based house calls if necessary. Health sensors in the homes along with information from wearable devices like smart watches and other wearables would be collected and insights delivered to residents each morning, by their preferred method, email, text, voice (Alexa), video (TV), to help patients manage their health concerns. This is just the beginning.

The question is though, will the poor and middle class ever benefit from these advances or will they remain in the hands of the wealthy? How will people from underserved populations (rural, inner city, elderly, homeless, substance abusers etc.) be able to purchase these homes? Join us for a special discussion on “Smart Cities and Smart Care at HIMSS18 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas March 5-8, 2018. Here we, along with 40,000+ others will discuss this and many other important topics in Health and technology. Join us for a fascinating discussion as we create the future of health and care!