Name: Data-Driven Innovations in Eldercare
Uploaded: 2024-03-05T21:24:00Z
Duration: 15 min 1 s
Description: By 2050 people over 60 will be about 22% of the world's inhabitants, fueling explosive demand for healthcare services. What are the changes ahead in the U.S. and Japan that could improve healthcare delivery and the wellbeing of aging populations?

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By 2050 people over 60 will be about 22% of the world's inhabitants, fueling explosive demand for healthcare services. What are the changes ahead in the U.S. and Japan that could improve healthcare delivery and the wellbeing of aging populations?

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Data-Driven Innovations in Eldercare

Hello everyone and welcome. I'm Christine Kashkari, your host for this session where we examine the challenges and opportunities in elderly healthcare. We'll discuss the latest digital technologies that are helping this aging population and those caring for them, live with dignity and independence. Joining me today is Tetsuya Morito, or Tet for short. Tet is the president of Sompo Horizon, an employee benefits caregiving provider, and a subsidiary of Sompo Holdings, one of Japan's biggest insurance holding companies. Tet, welcome.

Thanks for having me today. I'm excited for this opportunity today.

We are so happy to have you here. You and Sompo are so well placed to talk about the elderly and elderly care. Sompo Group is based in Japan, which proportionately has the world's largest aging population. Now here in the US, more than 80 million people are expected to be over the age of 65 by 2040. So how do you compare the elderly population in Japan versus here in the US?

Sure, there are a lot of differences in the two countries. From high level, Japan's approach to elder care is all about integrating healthcare, long-term care, prevention, and support within the community. They want the elderly to be able to live out their lives in their communities, even if they need a lot of care. Here in the US, we do have various services to help elderly to stay healthy and independent. Like help with chores, personal care, and home repairs. Those are often funded by programs like the Older American Act, but a lot of them are paid privately. When you dig into deeper with the differences of the healthcare system, Japan has a universal healthcare system funded by taxes and individual contributions. This system keeps their healthcare costs pretty low. They'll also be implementing care and promoting health. As a result, Japanese people spend 50 percent less on healthcare and live about six years longer than Americans. In contrast, in US has a complex fragmented healthcare system involving healthcare providers, payers, and the government. So most Americans get their health insurance through their jobs or by purchasing it themselves. Public insurance program like Medicare, Medicaid provide coverage for the elderly is available, those who qualify based on their income. The US spent a lot more on the healthcare part than Japan, but of course Japan has a downside, too. About 30 percent of Japanese population is over 65 years old now. So it's keep growing with a very low pass rate. This is putting a lot of pressure on the healthcare system, especially the funding and caregivers. So it is getting trickier to figure out how to support an aging population. Sompo is a number one senior provider in Japan and we have been leading the industry to tackle this foreseen problem with innovative solutions. Some example, so let me highlight four. One, technology and systems to spot health issue early. Two, levels to keep seniors company and help prevent loneliness. So there are also automated monitoring system with seniors in bed and cameras to keep an eyes on residents. So these take help reduce additional costs and save time on administrative work for professional workers. At the same time, it also prevent accident like falls and helps take good care of the elderly as long as possible. But that is why professional worker provide this assistance with high quality care, with compassionate support by leveraging technology.

Thank you, Tet. And we'll get back to that technology piece in a little bit, but I wanna go back to what you mentioned earlier about Japan's approach to elder care and that it's deeply rooted in providing support within their communities so the elderly can live out their lives in their communities and that's only possible with a lot of care, be they by professionals or family members. So what are some of the challenges that you're seeing in providing this care?

I'm glad you brought that up. So one of the biggest challenges we are facing right now is the shortage of caregivers. I'm talking about both professional in the field and the family members stepping in to help. So let me start with professional care giving with this three point. The first, the shortage of nurse and geriatrician is an obvious social problem right now, especially after COVID. Second, many patient care assistants are working in conditions that are far from ideal. Imagine the median wage of all healthcare support personnel is only $12.5 per hour. Then on top of that, many don't have access to healthcare benefits. So there is insufficient training and education to provide the knowledge and skills needed to care. So it's not just about the shortage, it's also about the lack of quality care for seniors. Now talk about family caregivers. So it's also a tough spot. With a declining professional caregiver workforce, a lot of responsibility is falling onto family caregivers. Three, critical issues I can list here. So people are living longer and having fewer children. So this means fewer family member will be available for older adults. Here in the front in 2010, the ratio of the elderly over 84, family caregivers was one to seven. By 2030, one to four. In 2050, one to three. This is a sharp decline. The current demographic trend show the gap, Japan, this gap will only widen. The second, when you think about how families are splitting up these days, it's just adding another layer of complexity to caregiving. So caregiving for their family from a long-time distance is not a easy task. Finally, the immediate challenge we face is insufficient support provided to caregivers who are balancing work commitment. We see that employer are starting to recognize this support need that employer needs, but we still not where we need to be. So less than 25 percent of the company with over 100 workers are stepping up to offer this benefit. We believe this is a places where technology can have a positive impact. At the same time, a humanized approach should be an important factor in this very long lasting and complicated care for family responsibility.

Tet, those are some very sobering statistics that you shared with us, especially of the ratio between potential family caregivers and the growing number of elderly people. In 2050, that would include a sizable number of us. For those holding full-time jobs though, the pressure from holding down their day jobs plus caring for an elderly relation can easily lead to burnout. What does your data say about caregiver burnout and its impact?

Absolutely. So family caregiver burnout is a big deal really. So AARP reports show about 20 million family caregiver are feeling serious burnout. Imagine family caregivers usually doing more than a few days work just caring for someone else. So in Japan we see some really heartbreaking situation like carer killing or suicide. And the burnout is projected to get worse in this demographic drain. So why burnout? A couple of reason I can list. The care journey is usually very long, at least five to seven years and each family needs different supporting every phase of the caregiving situation. And family caregivers often find themself at the forefront of decision making because the elderly spouse frequently receive their guidance or consent on various issues. And their care journey is also new for everyone. So it's super important for caregiver to take some time off for themselves to breathe and ask for help from friends and family, or even healthcare professional. Then please do things they enjoy. So that's why here at Sompo Horizon we developed this platform CareGo. So it is designed to help employers and their employees. What is unique about CareGo is the marriage of technology and human touch. So we believe the emotional support is very important. The caregiving has very emotional aspect of the care recipient close to the families. You are matched with a care compassionate care advisor. So they support you to release the stress from the huge amount of caregiving task and its emotional stress. At the same time, technology can handle the resources, education, and tools for taking responsibility. On the platform, you can find services for you or elder even really, get recommendation what you might need to do. Now the important information at the right time and even communicate with the person who is in the same situation. We believe support is . Services should meet the caregiver's need.

So Tet, what can employers do? You talk a little bit about some of the things that they should be on the lookout for, but what else can they do to support their employees that are providing elderly care?

Yeah, that's a great point. The pandemic really shook things up for the family caregivers. So family caregiver work from home and the care recipient also stay at home is help. So what happened in the line between professional lives and personal responsibility get blurry. But this made it tougher to keep everything balanced. They're all still figure out a new way to juggling their jobs and the added care responsibility. This result in stress, both emotionally and financially. So this is where employer can make a huge impact. So what employer can do? The employer can create a supportive work environment. For example, offer flexible work schedule and some paid time off policy. So they can also build a compassionate work place culture and the people don't have to feel uncomfortable talking about their caregiving result concerning about their carer. Training manager to support the sign of the caregiver burnout is also key. So they can help reduce workload and point the employees toward mental health resources when needed. Lastly, having benefit like a caregiver support platform show that company really care about their employees. So by providing this kind of support, they can really help their team members balance their work, this caring for their loved one. That's a win-win for everyone.

So Tet, we only have a few minutes left and I wanna go back to technology. Can you talk about some more of those data-driven innovations and digital tools that are connecting the elderly with their caregivers, and then as a result, easing the burden on both?

Of course. So digital tool will definitely be a game-changing technology. Family caregivers and the elderly can schedule remote consultation with a professional care advisor and they have access to digital enable to help address a wide variety of challenges they face. For example, how to pay long-term care or reimburse Medicare and Medicaid, access costly prescription medicine, support on daily life including meal support, house remodeling, transportation, and even pest control. Another example is remote patient monitoring wearable devices, smart watches and activity tracker that tracks things like heart rate, trip patterns, or blood sugar for example. So these empower both professional and family caregivers to take realtime action. Smart room device like medication dispenser or fall detection system can enhance adherence and safety. These remote monitoring system provide caregivers with real time access to their loved ones safety and wellbeing. So those also help save them time and offer a sense of reassurance along with ability to respond to urgent issue.

So Tet, we have about a minute left and I wanna talk, I wanna ask you about the risk sometimes that technology brings is, people are concerned about dehumanization. So how do you ensure that an essential part of that care remains human connection?

So I agree that was the highlighting. So this is exactly what Sompo Horizon focus on. So we strongly believe human touch is irreplaceable. We are really passionate about branding the latest physical effect. So even though we deep into the age of AI and machine learning, we never lost sight of the importance of the personal connection. It's not just about the tech, it's about the human frame to bring it life. So most times the care journey will be long lasting and can be very complicated. So there are no cookie-cutter solution here. We are all about striking the balance regarding digital innovation result during the heart of human connection and compassionate care. And that is our commitment to caregivers who are already doing so much.

Well thank you so much, Tet. That was very well said and we join you in appreciation for all the caregivers among us. Thank you.