Do health innovators think about the oldest adults?
Everyone wants to see more innovation in health care delivery. Not to miss the remote healthcare visitation party, which seems to be a relatively recent employee benefit, Verizon just announced its new Virtual Visits platform, ‘expanding medical for patients who may wait on “average 27 days for to schedule an appointment.” That’s a 2010 statistic. Well, actually, by 2013 the average wait time was more like 18 days. But perhaps the wait time is beside the point – what if you don’t live near or happen to be near a doctor? Would you use a remote visitation service? If you’re elderly, do you NEED a remote visitation service? Yes, perhaps, for some – it can enable access to a doctor’s advice without the hassle of getting to the office. But does it matter if older adults would benefit, if only 34% of those aged 75-79 and 20% of the 80+ age range have access to broadband? Of course.