If you are considering technology to help alleviate functional, decline, be sure to use the newly updated LeadingAge CAST Functional Assessment and Activity Monitoring Technology Selection Tool. The tool gives you background on how to choose this type of technology, all outlined in an extensive white paper. It also provides online tools to help you review various products on the market and narrow options to the ones best suited to your organization.

Recent revisions include new information for 16 products in the selection matrix and online selection tool.

This year, the tool adds information on four new products:

1. Active Daily Living
2. Edammo Inc
3. Virtue Sense
4. Zemplee

 New Case Studies

The update includes two new case studies that let you see how other organizations have put functional assessment and activity monitoring technology into practice.

“Integrated Systems – The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts” tells how Liberty Senior Living, a continuing care retirement community, increased staff efficiencies and decreased administrative time spent reviewing and reporting on staff productivity and incidents.

Liberty Senior Living integrated two systems, the RCare nurse call systems already in use and Nxtgen Care solutions that measure, track, understand and enhance residents’ meaningful encounters with other people in the community. RCare is a LeadingAge Bronze Partner with CAST Focus.

Both staff and residents began wearing a “Liveable” wristwatch-style device that shares location in real time and determines social interactions. Staff can see where other team members are, on a floorplan, which helps them request backup assistance. They can also find residents more easily when it is time for regular check-ins or when a resident asks for help.

In a pilot study conducted by Nxtgen, staff response times decreased 66% and resulted in an average response time significantly under the community’s three-minute goal. Emergency transfers decreased measurably. Resident satisfaction increased by 4% in the one-month study period, and family satisfaction increased by 6%.

The system also works well for infection control communication, because staff can easily check the map to see who is on contact precautions.

“Reducing Fall Risk and Improving Overall Mobility Through Technology During COVID-19” explains how continuing care retirement community Montgomery Place partnered with VirtuSense Technologies to help reduce falls and keep residents mobile.

Montgomery Place used VSTBalance, which takes less than three minutes to objectively assess and identify musculoskeletal and sensory deficiencies in older adults. After it determines a resident’s mobility level, the AI engine and clinicians will create the best clinical pathways for the resident.

Residents were isolated during the pandemic, which took a toll on their mental and physical, health. Staff visited residents with VSTBalance to determine who needed a falls prevention intervention. Residents became more motivated to exercise or go to outpatient therapy once they saw data that showed their fall risk.

The system includes training games that older adults can do to improve their balance, memory/logic, cognitive function, endurance, and flexibility.

Real-time data also enables care team members to design contingency protocols such as preventative care plans, increased rounding, reduced bed heights, and other means to prevent falls.

LeadingeAge CAST Technology Selection Tools

This updated tool is one of nine LeadingAge CAST Technology Selection Tools that can help you choose the best solution for your organization:

1. Data Analytics Technology Selection Tool
2. EHR Technology Selection Tool
3. Functional Assessment and Activity Monitoring Technology Selection Tool 
4. Health Information Exchange (HIE) Technology Selection Tool
5. Medication Management Selection Tool
6. Safety Technology Selection Tool
7. Shared Care Planning and Coordination Technology Selection Tool
8. Social Connectedness and Engagement Technology Selection Tool
9. Telehealth and RPM Selection Tool