The national health technology company Electronic Caregiver proudly announces the official release of Addison, the Virtual Caregiver. Digital health is evolving beyond the app, and the future of healthcare lies in experiential engagement. Enter Addison, the living avatar for care management, and the next level of human-centered design.
Addison has been a dream of Electronic Caregiver’s founder and CEO Anthony Dohrmann since the company was founded in 2009. Through voice and touch interaction, the 3D-animated Virtual Caregiver helps monitor the health of aging and chronically ill clients of all ages via a Lenovo IdeaCentre All-in-One computer or Yoga convertible tablet in clients’ homes. Addison Care devices can also be implemented in senior living communities and health care organizations, providing health and security services to a large number of people.
“Addison is the most transformational and engaging interface for human interaction with technology ever created,” Dohrmann said. “For years consumers have wondered what Siri and Alexa might look like behind the voice. Addison adds far more than a mere face and body to the voice. Addison provides a dynamic, ever-changing, emotionally stimulating, personalized experience to the user. Addison can educate, demonstrate, inquire, and connect.”
The launch of Addison comes at a pivotal time in American history. The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that by 2034, older adults will outnumber children. This will leave fewer family members to help care for aging loved ones. Already, 39.8 million people are providing informal care for the elderly and chronically ill with more than 20 percent of caregivers’ health declining.
On a global scale, the implications of a caregiver shortage are staggering. By the year 2050, the world population will consist of 1.5 billion people aged 65 and older. And 1 in 3 people in the global population has multiple chronic conditions. Chronic illnesses “kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74 percent of all deaths globally,” according to the World Health Organization.
In addition, the cost of assisted living continues to skyrocket. According to research published by the National Institutes of Health in 2021, the median cost of assisted living is $4,300 per month. Unpaid family caregivers are also hit with a high financial burden, spending an average of 26 percent of their income on caregiving activities, according to the AARP.
While several companies have tried to create apps to assist people with their health and caregiving needs, they have not been effective. The apps are unengaging, offer no coordination, and are unsuited for the elderly. People who have impaired vision or unsteady hands struggle with the small screens, and small buttons, become overwhelmed, and lose interest.
Comparatively, Addison fulfills an integral human need packaged in a world of experience, a world of connectivity, and a world of benefits. The Virtual Caregiver offers better oversight and coordination, instant health care services on demand, and a program to avoid the high cost of assisted living, nursing homes, and in-home care by improving health outcomes, and extending functional lifespan.
With Addison, clients stay engaged and motivated to follow their treatment plan. This is vital, as non-adherence “causes nearly 125,000 deaths, 10 percent of hospitalizations and costs the already strained healthcare system between $100 – $289 billion a year,” according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
As the next generation of virtual voice assistants, Addison reminds users to take prescribed medications, conducts interactive health assessments, delivers dosing compliance verification to caregivers and providers, and assists patients in recording vital sign measurements to monitor specific conditions. The Addison Care system can be paired with various Bluetooth devices, such as a glucometer for patients with diabetes or a weight scale and blood pressure cuff for patients who have or are managing heart disease. Addison tracks medication adherence and vital sign trends over time, allowing clients, their caregivers, and providers to catch any escalations before they become problematic.
Addison is an all-in-one Telecare solution, connecting the patient with primary care, emergency response, friends, and family. Users can tell Addison to call emergency services if they fall and can’t reach the phone, or to call their daughter to remind her to pick them up for an appointment in the morning. Should their vitals show signs of health decline, Addison will inform their caregiver and doctor.
The Virtual Caregiver also offers telehealth services and Care Coaching.
Addison makes health management easy and enjoyable. The living avatar talks to and reacts to clients, and mirrors the time of day, weather, holiday celebrations, and faith. Users can personalize environments, gender, ethnicity, decor, locations, fonts, tones, colors, apparel, and language. They can interact with objects, animals, musical instruments, media, and characters in Addison’s world.
“You know [Addison’s] not human, but it’s nice to have a person there, and it’s fun to watch her,” said Coralee Armstrong, 82, an Addison Care client living in Greenville, Pa. “It’s kind of like an extra person in the house. It’s kind of like company.”
And the Virtual Caregiver is ever-evolving. Soon, Addison will incorporate physical and mental health routines and video televisits with health care professionals. The living avatar will offer third-party service integrations for grocery delivery, ride share, and connected home solutions. Additionally, clinical Addison configurations are being created for bedside patient management in hospitals, including intake and discharge processes. Addison will create ease and convenience in every aspect of a client’s life while assisting them with every health need imaginable.
To kick off the launch of the Virtual Caregiver, Electronic Caregiver will be showcasing the Addison Care system at two events on Jan. 5 at CES 2023, the largest annual tech convention in the world, in Las Vegas. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the living avatar at the CONNECTIONS™ Summit, a research, and industry event hosted by the international research firm Parks Associates, and at ShowStoppers, an event giving journalists access to major brands and startups, as well as the industry’s most influential leaders and advocates.
Addison Care is available through Electronic Caregiver’s national network of sales agents. Subscribers pay a one-time installation and care plan activation fee and a monthly fee after that. Addison is HIPAA compliant and incorporates facial recognition for added security. The Addison Care system has been certified after completing an AWS (Amazon Web Services) well-architected review. The system utilizes 20+ Amazon/AWS services and includes an Intel Core i5 processor and software. For information on Addison, the Virtual Caregiver, and pricing, visit electroniccaregiver.com.
Founded in 2009, Electronic Caregiver is a privately held digital health technology and services company headquartered in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Electronic Caregiver’s mission is to design and deliver innovative, impactful telehealth products and services that bridge the chasm between the doctor’s office and the patient’s home to improve outcomes, expand access, and optimize resource allocation. Electronic Caregiver has been qualified as a technology solution provider in the AWS Partner Network (APN). The company’s solutions are available to individual customers, as well as through healthcare organizations, physician practices, care management firms, home care agencies, and senior housing providers to deliver hospital-at-home, chronic care management, and remote patient monitoring programs.
SOURCE: Electronic Caregiver
