Can 40 Million Caregivers Count on You?

The number of people in need of care in the United States is expected to reach 117 million by 2020, according to AARP. Also growing are the responsibilities of their caregivers: managing daily tasks for a population that’s living longer, monitoring health amid a boom of chronic conditions, planning for transitions while long-term care insurance rates continue to skyrocket, and helping care recipients stay connected to family, friends, neighbors, and health care professionals.

Both startups and corporations have been recognizing the need and market opportunities. But many initial solutions have not fully realized their promises, hampered by market fragmentation, underdeveloped products, and low adoption and use.

This report explores innovations and technological advances in caregiving designed to improve solutions for America's family caregivers, informal helpers, and care recipients, focusing on six areas of opportunity: 

• Daily essential activites
• Health and safety awareness
• Care coordination
• Transition support
• Social well-being
• Caregiver quality of life

This report is made available as part of AARP's Project Catalyst initiative. With Project Catalyst, AARP has convened the most innovative leaders in the health care industry to launch a pioneering program that gains valuable insights into 50-plus consumer behavior and usage of popular and new-to-market health-tech products, in order to help inform developers about how their products and services are working to improve the lives of Americans as they age.  

For more information on Project Catalyst, please contact projectcatalyst@aarp.org. For media inquiries, please contact media@aarp.org.

Suggested Citation:

Project Catalyst and Parks Associates. Caregiving Innovation Frontiers. Washington, DC: AARP Research, June 2017. https://doi.org/10.26419/res.00299.001