Today in Health IT, we're talking about Inside the AI Care Home, the smart tech making old people feel safer. And I'm joined by Sarah Richardson, President of This Week Health 229 Executive Development Community. thanks for joining. Always a pleasure to join you, Kate. So this piece explores the integration of AI in elder care facilities, highlighting technologies like Allie Cares, which monitors residents movements to detect potential health issues, and PainCheck, an AI system that assesses facial expressions to identify pain in nonverbal patients.

These innovations aim to enhance safety and improve the quality of life for elderly residents. The article also addresses ethical considerations such as the balance between technology use and human interaction and the importance of equitable access to these advancements.

There were a few things, Kate, I found super fascinating about this, especially where it says how it can make elderly patients feel safer. So tools like this that monitor residents movement, detecting unusual patterns that may indicate health issues, being able to get in front of something sooner, so someone's walking with a little instability, or they have more trouble getting out of bed, to be able to identify a fall risk, as an example.

The pain detection technology. So applications like one that was highlighted called Pain Check, they analyze facial expressions to identify pain in non verbal patients, which can also improve care for individuals with things like dementia or communication challenges. You talked about the aging population needs with a growing number of individuals over 65.

And an increase in dementia cases. AI technologies are essential in meeting rising demands for elder care. And then the one that is also super important is the ethical considerations. The adoption of AI in care homes, it does raise concerns about potential over reliance on technology. Reduced human interaction and disparities in access to advanced care solutions.

Yet, I also think about the fact that if it can be the gateway or the early part of a intervention that needs to occur by a human, then again, any of those staffing shortages are going to be addressed by the ability to detect a problem sooner, address it sooner, and then have a better outcome overall for both the patient and the provider, or in this case, maybe the caregiver.

And senior living communities are going to play a huge role in that. But as we know, even nursing populations are aging. So this is a very big area of potential where AI can play that role in stepping in and doing things like monitoring movements, detecting unusual patterns. So this is really important.

And we know that shortages are such a big issue already, but it's a bit intimidating to think about those numbers and what we're going to be looking at. And you can think of other points of consideration in healthcare, privacy, and security. Implementing AI requires robust data protection measures to safeguard patient information and comply with regulations, something CXOs are constantly discussing.

Cost and accessibility. Healthcare organizations need to assess the financial implications of the AI adoption and make advanced care technologies accessible to diverse populations. Likely conversations that are already occurring within the governance structures and the deployment conversations of some of these newer technologies in facilities.

And then the continuous evaluation. Regular assessment of AI systems is necessary to ensure they meet care standards and adapt to evolving healthcare needs. Very specifically, how are you using AI? How are you auditing AI? How are you making sure that the human in the loop is at the right point of care and understanding what that continuum looks like?

It really presents opportunities to enhance safety and efficiency, except that Thoughtfully addressing the ethical, operational, and human centric considerations to ensure technology complements compassionate care is a conversation that all CXOs, C Suite, and even in some cases at the board level need to be occurring.

Yeah, absolutely. This, it's an important discussion on all levels and we, And it requires a good amount of collaboration between providers and caregivers to improve that care coordination, improve outcomes, and you need to have that you need to acknowledge the contributions of caregivers that can foster a more inclusive and supportive healthcare environment. This is something we talk about, but it is so important.

By valuing and supporting family caregivers, healthcare organizations can enhance patient care, improve satisfaction metrics, and foster a more collaborative care environment. And that's just, that's incredibly important. And as we know, will become more and more important in the coming years.

And you and I keep talking about how you balance technology and human touch. AI has got a ton of significant and it's crucial to maintain the human interaction and ensure compassionate care and address emotional needs we haven't quite yet seen other than the robot conversation we had about humans responding empathetically to a robot who sounds like they're in distress.

Clearly understanding. When to utilize these technologies most effectively, that whole training and adaptation component, the staff has to be adequately trained to work alongside the technology and understand both the functionality and limitations. It's not going to be a one size fits all.

There's going to be a per patient type of integration or interaction and level of usage that Each caregiver, the more comfortable they become with the technologies, the more they know how to apply them individually in some of these instances. That, to me, will continue to be what we see evolve and mature over periods of time, is how we're using the technology almost in a per patient type of way.

setting and how important that is to any individual receiving care to feel like their solutions are tailored to them versus just in and out of the door in a given moment. And if this is being used in a long term care facility or a senior living facility, that relationship that you build with your caregiver and they can both evaluate and appreciate your level of comfort with the technology so that it's part of your overall care and treatment, not a replacement for The need for the human interaction support that often comes with a lot of these Absolutely. The balance always has to be there. AI is never going to be the only source for care, but as we're seeing it can make an impact in these areas and it needs to be embraced, but done properly. Could not agree more. Don't forget to share this podcast with a friend or colleague.

Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions on the topic that are relevant to you and the industry. They can 📍 subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Sarah, thanks so much for joining. Always, Kate. Thank you. All right. Thank you for listening. And that's all for now.