Homecare plus AI equals smart medicine for seniors

When trained on routine health data and observation notes gathered by homecare aides, AI can be used to anticipate medical emergencies in the elderly one to two weeks ahead of an incident. The advance insights can both guide preventive care and save on unnecessary hospital and transportation costs.

Researchers proved out the concept in a pilot study published by PLOS One this week.

The team, representing multiple agencies and institutions in France, conducted a prospective study of 301 homebound seniors aged 75 or older who were regularly visited by homecare workers.

Following each visit, the aides entered their respective patients’ functional indicators across 27 metrics into a...