The previous post (The Pandemic has changed healthcare for good, and for the better) focused on changes in the delivery of acute medical care following a hospitalization.
But what about longer term care, for example, assisted living?
Joseph H Coughlin has written an article (This Senior Living Business Model Doesn’t Involve Real Estate) that not only introduced me to the word "disintermediating", but to the acronym VAL - for "Virtual Assisted Living". Although the article might be targeted towards the business community, it offers us insight into how assisted living services might be delivered within our community.
"The pandemic experience and the evolving effectiveness of technologies is disintermediating the idea that care must be linked to place. Increasingly it will be all about the the capacity to provide quality services that are effective, affordable, and excite and delight wherever the older person (and their family) decides to call home."
These changes can also impact the delivery of assisted living services within our community - the place we decide to call home.