Aged Care INsite: Getting connected. Emerging technologies offer improved security, safety, diagnosis and treatment to improve the quality of life for elderly people.
Industry leaders have welcomed a new report which supports their calls for better IT investment in aged care, despite the fact few of them were consulted. Megan Stoyles reports.
Emerging technologies offer improved security, safety, diagnosis and treatment to improve the quality of life for elderly people. They will enable growing numbers of seniors to remain living at home for longer, and they will provide financial savings in aged care and medical treatment.
These are among the major findings of a comprehensive new report, Smart Technology for Healthy Longevity, conducted by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and funded by the Australian Research Council.
The report has been welcomed by Dr George Margelis, health industry manager at Intel Australia, who spoke to the authors during its preparation.
"The report was very comprehensive, and its recommendations are very sensible," he says. "In particular, the final one speaks about the need for national insurers, including Medicare, to recognise the value of these technologies in improving health outcomes and how they should implement mechanisms that encourage their use."
This means that the costs associated with these technologies should be taken up within the current healthcare payment system, as they have been shown to decrease overall costs and improve quality of life, Margelis says.
"At the moment it seems it makes more sense to pay for a hospitalisation than it does to pay to prevent that hospitalisation."
Executive director, technical at the ATSE, Dr Vaughan Beck, says it "intends to support the implementation of a number of the report's recommendations that will contribute to the application of technology to assist aging in-place".
"ATSE will develop a forward strategy, and plans to consult broadly with key stakeholders, including government and industry, and would welcome input from industry."
The government needs such firm direction and advice on how to act in this important area. As Lisa Capamagian, Tunstall Healthcare's marketing manager says: "In 2007 the Department of Health and Ageing allocated $5.1 million towards an assistive technology grant over five years, but cancelled this program in 2009".
"This document highlights the need for government to review their position on this issue and allocate funds to researching new models of delivering health and aged care, integrated with assistive technology; with a view to enabling policy redesign and long term funding arrangements for community care providers," she adds.
Please visit the Aged Care INsite or Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering websites for more information.
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