Senate Aging Committee Hearing Focuses on Connected Home Systems, Telehealth

Senate Aging Committee ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., praised tech companies that sell “versions of connected home systems that can help keep seniors secure in their homes,” in her opening statement for a hearing Wednesday. That hearing focused on how technology can help in the lives of older people. One recurring topic was telehealth. “Technology has also been critical to the growth of telehealth and particularly helpful for seniors who, by using telehealth services, can have ... their health monitored from the comfort of their homes rather than the doctor’s office,” McCaskill said. Department of Veterans Affairs Acting Chief Consultant for Telehealth Services Maureen McCarthy testified on telehealth’s importance. In FY 2014, the “VA provided care to more than 717,000 patients (12.6 percent of our enrolled Veterans) through telehealth modalities,” she said in written testimony. “This amounted to over 2,123,000 telehealth episodes of care. Forty-five percent (45 percent) of these Veterans lived in rural areas and may otherwise have had limited access to VA health care services.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., pressed witnesses on data security for the different devices and the need for encryption, pointing to a recent Anthem data breach. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., worried about how slower broadband speeds may hurt rural areas' ability to receive telehealth services. "Technology helps seniors communicate with loved ones, prolong their independence and maximize their quality of life -- from medical alert buttons on GreatCall cellphones to video conferencing to online education opportunities," CEA President Gary Shapiro, who didn't testify, said in a statement. "And smartphones and tablets put a world of information and connectivity at our fingertips, regardless of age or accessibility needs. Matched with smart home technologies and the Internet of Things, these devices now give us control over our environments -- locking doors, setting the thermostat, turning lights on and off -- without having to move around our homes."