Hello, everyone, and thank you for tuning in
to the Becker's Health Care podcast. We are
thrilled to be joined today on-site at Becker's
Health IT Digital Health RCM Conference by Todd
Houghton, president, HomeWatch Caregivers. Todd, thank you so
much for joining us today.
Thanks, Brian, for having me today. I'm looking
forward to it. Excellent. So so let's let's
dig in here. Could you introduce yourself and
and and just give us a brief overview
of the work you're doing? Absolutely. Yeah. So,
as you mentioned, Todd Oton. I am the
president and CEO of HomeWatch Caregivers,
home care based, franchise organization
with over 250 locations across the US and
throughout South America.
I took over the company about 2 years
ago as, the CEO of that. Been in
the home care space for about 14 years
and really,
mission driven on getting better access of care
to those that want to age at home.
77% of the population wanna do that over
the age of 50. So we're focused on
how we provide that better access in a
more affordable fashion,
bringing technology into the fold.
So I appreciate that introduction, that overview of
what you're doing. I you know, numbers from
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
show social isolation has increased the risk of
premature death from all causes and even a
50% increase in the risk of developing dementia
among older adults.
How can technology be leveraged to really enhance
social engagement among home health and home care
patients,
especially just that we hear more and more
today about the isolation some of these folks
face? It's one of my big focuses. Right?
In my role, I call it the loneliness
epidemic. And so people living alone, do face
a higher risk of
cognitive and psychological,
diseases such as dementia. Also, it's the leading
cause of suicide amongst men over the age
of 65. So bringing technology into the fold
provides better connection, better engagement
for that aging population
who want to fulfill their dreams of of
living at home. Right? So in the home
care space, it's typically private pay. So people
having that affordability,
is critical. They may have direct care visits
3 or 4 times a week, but with
technology, they can be connected in 247
fashion,
focused on that loneliness and that isolation aspect
of things, allowing them to be not only
connected with their caregiver, but with their family,
their friends, other loved ones, that really make
them feel more part of the world. Yeah.
And there
ask a follow-up here for you. There's sort
of a the stigma among older patients that
maybe they're less likely to engage with technology.
Do you think that's changing especially in light
of after the pandemic? I think,
I mean, anecdotally,
like, my mom is much better at FaceTiming
now than she was before the pandemic. Like,
I can see her whole face now when
we get on. Yeah.
So I'm just curious to if that's something
you think is changing too. Older adults are
getting more comfortable, more tech savvy. It it
absolutely is changing. I recently saw a number,
it is, based on, Canada, but 92% of
Canadians over the age of 65 have a
smart device. Couldn't find the US statistic, but
I imagine it has to be similar, which
means that those numbers are absolutely going up,
which is great to see. Our technology that
we bring into the fold is really driven
through the TV. And we're in an era
of aging population that have all had TVs,
and they've all had remote controls at this
point in their life. So they're getting much
more used to to using that type of
technology.
Yep. And healthier patients, obviously, like, you you
spin this out that that yields benefits for
payers and hospitals. Can you discuss the benefits
of virtual visits in complementing sort of in
person care and how they contribute to more
consistent support,
reduced admit readmission rates seem to be a
a a good target goal for folks here.
Can you just talk a little bit about
the benefits that these can yield?
So through all of our research and through
our our testing before we actually fully launch
the technology aspect, we found the top three
reasons that somebody was going to the hospital
was being lonely,
dehydrated, or UTI. So technology actually keeps them
connected
in a better way so that they can
be reminded to be hydrating, drinking their water,
they can be, you know, engaged so they're
not lonely.
And it just really helps reduce that that
readmission rate. So our our our drive is
to really get payer sources to understand
the value of having that capability to live
at home, right, and be connected so they
don't go to the hospital. We all know
that the costs that are associated with somebody
walking in that ER door. And if we
can keep it at a much lower cost,
keep them at home much longer, much safer,
that's what we wanna do. Yep. And, of
course, we're we're sitting here in a health
IT conference. So the question I'm about to
ask you next is probably the kind of
question that's gonna show up in conversations across
this conference,
which is how AI sort of fits in
here. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit
more about how the the rise of AI,
more sophisticated virtual tools is really gonna
impact the future of care in the home
settings. It it seems particularly, like, exciting for
this space. Right? It's very exciting. We're just
in pilot phase on some some AI,
capabilities that really focus on,
hyper personalized care plans that will help that
person age much more gracefully at home with
reducing the hospital admissions and things like that.
But AI is going to continue to provide
a critical part in the care space, And
we're excited to see where it goes. I'm
excited to be here at this conference to
talk with other people about how they're looking
at bringing AI in. It's gonna change the
world in the next 18 to 36 months.
Yeah. Exciting stuff and excited to dive into
some of those conversations too as the conference
rolls on.
Is there anything we didn't touch on in
our time together today that you wanna be
sure to leave listeners with time? I think,
you know, we've we've touched on everything. It's
just that that that critical component of technology
and everybody embracing the fact that technology in
the home is the direction that we absolutely
have to go to provide better care. We're
starting to see it in the hospital in
the acute settings. Let's get it into the
home as well. It's a great place to
end on. So, Todd, thank you so much
for taking the time stopping by and talking
with me. Thanks for having me, Brian. Appreciate
it. Of course. And, of course, wanna thank
HomeWatch Caregivers for sponsoring this conversation.
Listeners, thank you for joining us, and please
be sure to check out the other podcasts
on Becker's websites. Thank you so much. Have
a wonderful rest of your day.