Do health innovators think about the oldest adults? No

This is a must read for any company, politician, policy maker or venture capitalist who thinks using technology will create a 'paradigm shift' or whatever they want to call it to the delivery health services. This is normally another way of saying 'cost reduction'.

Laurie Orlov, once again, identifies the fallacy of so much of the nonsense that is talked about e-medicine or whatever you want to call it.

The theory is great. The problem is is when it makes contact with the reality of life and in particular the life of the primary consumers of health services - the older-old.

The bottom line - at best the users of these services will be the educated, wealthy and reasonably fit old - more likely it will be their children or grandchildren.

This doesn't mean that we should not invest in the technology to cut the cost of delivering health services but don't let's fool ourselves that it will make more than a dent in the way that older people consume medical services. Dick Stroud