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From medical implications surrounding the “Silver Tsunami” to the ongoing question of how to deal with a projected 300 million Alzheimer’s patients, senior housing and care issues made waves at one of this year’s largest gatherings of health and medical thought leaders from around the globe: TEDMED.
The annual conference of innovative thinkers features speakers each year who are forging a path in the medical world, as a spinoff from its general innovation counterpart, TED. Of 1,800 thinkers and doers at this year’s event, many are focusing their attention to care of the world’s aging population.
This year’s TEDMED debuted “The Hive,” a new platform dedicated to exploring transformative innovations and entrepreneurs in health and medicine. The Hive features 50 such startups, many of which have a direct focus on addressing some of the caregiving challenges associated with the aging population that stands to be hundreds of millions strong:
QMedic – Aging in Place – Focused on a wearable sensing platform, QMedic technology monitors physical activity, sleep and falls. It also can provide real-time alerts to caregivers through its connective platform. “QMedic enables seniors to age in place while keeping them connected, healthy, and safe in the home,” the company states.
The technology was founded by scientists at MIT and touts its ability to operate without a battery recharge, and to analyze long-term health decline.
Neurotrack Technologies – Alzheimer’s Diagnosis – Showcasing an ability to diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease early, in fact, “years before symptoms appear,” Neurotrack Technologies is working to help pharmaceutical companies and researchers to get ahead in efforts toward drug research and development. “Neurotrack is on track to become the gold standard for early clinical screening of Alzheimer’s and dementia related disorders,” the company says.
CarePlanners – Senior Care Management – CarePlanners provides a network of caregivers and a platform to manage the care delivery process among social workers, nurses, insurance and billing. Specific senior services include monthly visits from care managers, in-home assessments, consultations to discuss and update changes monthly, ongoing reminders and on-call support for those involved in managing care of senior patients. The company was founded in part by NBC News Chief Medical Editor Nancy Snyderman.
iMpak Health – Managing Chronic Care – iMpak Health uses senor-based technologies to alert clinicians to patient needs, driven by events. The technology aims to assist those managing chronic care by providing data to physicians. iMpak can also help in the management of medication tracking through wireless technology around its sensor-based care solution.
VGBio – Monitoring of Chronic Care Patients – VGBio works through wireless technology to analyze bio signals and identify any abnormalities of the patients it monitors. Focused on chronic care management, the technology aims to provide clinicians with early notification relating to any changes in condition. “We seek to transform the management of chronic diseases from a reactive to a proactive care delivery model,” the company says.
Find out more about health startups featured at TedMed.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
Companies featured in this article:
CarePlanners, iMpak Health, innovation, Neurotrack Technologies, QMedic, VGBio