AI-generated summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted healthcare and its associated business models, notably reducing life expectancy by approximately 0.5 to 0.7 years. However, it has simultaneously accelerated investment in medical research and innovation, leading to new initiatives focused not only on extending lifespan but also on improving the quality of those additional years. For instance, Spanish startups like Rosita offer “longevity coaching” through mobile apps that promote healthy routines to enhance well-being, especially important as functional decline often begins after age 60.
The pandemic also spurred the development of technologies for real-time patient monitoring in hospitals, such as the Atlas app, which facilitates infection tracking and outbreak detection while protecting user privacy. Additionally, the aging population has driven growth in home care services, with companies like Cuideo and Helpycare expanding to meet increasing demand. Nursing homes are evolving too, shifting towards “senior housing” models that resemble community living rather than traditional institutional settings, reflecting seniors’ preference to age in a home-like environment.
Artificial intelligence and voice technology have become crucial tools for elderly care, exemplified by the Spanish startup Tucuvi, which provides virtual caregiving through automated calls that remind seniors to take medication and monitor their emotional state. Overall, the pandemic has accelerated adaptation and innovation in health-related startups, positioning them well to support a growing, aging population in the years ahead.
COVID-19 has accelerated innovation in business models aimed at a better quality of life during the last stage of life.
COVID-19 has generated profound changes in the world of healthcare and in the business models that orbit around it. The WHO already predicted in May 2020 that the pandemic would affect the longevity and life expectancy statistics, data that the CSIC and the INE corroborated shortly after.
But this health emergency has also allocated more resources to R+D+i. And this is seen in new business initiatives, which are not only focused on helping us age later, but also on aging better and fully enjoying that last stage. One that, thanks to medical advances and the quality of life we have, is getting longer and longer.
COVID-19 reduces longevity, but boosts research.
According to the Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo), the pandemic reduces life expectancy by about 0.5 to 0.7 years (−0.8%) and life expectancy from the age of 65 by about 0.4 to 0.5 years (−2.6%). Interestingly, this and other complicated data have led to rapid growth in investment in medical research .
And from these funds arise initiatives and projects that not only hope to alleviate this ‘drastic’ decline, but also try to propose new business models that increase (even more) increasing longevity.
‘Train’ longevity to be able to enjoy it.
The number of years you live with good quality does not grow as fast as the number of years you live, simply. Until the age of 60 or 65 it is common to live without serious limitations, but after that date it is exceptionally complicated. Part of the problem lies in many decades without healthy habits.
That is why Spanish startups such as Rosita work as a ‘longevity coach’ for adults to implement routines that increase their well-being. Through a mobile application, a series of basic training exercises are proposed. The most curious thing is how muscle functionality is classified, through questions such as “Can you comb your hair or wash your head without pain?”.
These types of virtual coaches are entering the market and are still an emerging business. It is expected that in the future they will specialize and generate completely individualized training. After COVID-19, this type of functionality will be more in demand, especially if you have suffered some functional deterioration due to infection or confinement.
This is how total monitoring works in hospitals.
Hospital staff had a hard time during 2020, when these centers reached the maximum number of patients they could treat and even had peaks that exceeded this capacity. During the
One of them is
In a sense, it works like Radar Covid, sharing encrypted information in a way that protects data. The interesting thing about this type of application is that they are not only useful in hospital work peaks or pandemics. Detecting an outbreak of legionella or the start of a flu is easier with them, and they protect the identity of the user and professional at all times.
Home care, a booming business
The home care business is not new, but it is in full transformation and growth. The CSIC says in its report ‘The ageing of the population’ that we have one of the oldest populations on the planet. As we age, home care becomes essential.
That is why companies such as Cuideo, which specialises in home care, or Helpycare, which operates as a franchised placement agency, have considerable room for growth. This business model has a double aspect: connecting caregivers with domestic employees (B2C), and transmitting the company’s know-how as the sector is expanding (B2B).
New models in nursing homes
An alternative to home care, which requires moving staff home, is to move home to an environment where care is a basic component. This is the sector of residences for the elderly, which according to the consulting firm PwD in Spain 41% are privately owned in different modalities, and 34% are subsidized.
However, according to the report ‘Longevity’, by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, 90% of the elderly prefer to age at home and not in a nursing home. At least not one like those that predominate today. Something not always possible due to the lack of autonomy of the elderly.
Due to the age of the population in nursing homes, COVID-19 has had a serious impact on them. If before the pandemic nursing homes were multifunctional environments with activities and care, now innovation aims to design residences more similar to neighbourhood communities than hospital environments. The official term is senior housing, and developers such as
Artificial intelligence and voice to help older people
Care for the elderly is an increasingly frequent activity of integrated health systems. Both home visits and telecare, which she usually calls from time to time to ask how they are and talk, are basic tools that help alleviate loneliness.
A few years ago, the Spanish startup Tucuvi, with whom we had the opportunity to talk a few days ago, began to develop its ‘virtual caregiver’. Making use of artificial intelligence and voice technology (both in speech recognition and synthesizer), it follows up with older people with automated calls.
During the pandemic, and especially during the lockdown, part of the national health system collapsed by focusing on the health emergency. That left many seniors without emotional support as call centers focused on reporting COVID-19.
Tucuvi, with CEO María González at the head, reminds the elderly every day that they have to take their medication, asks them about their mood or refers them to a professional. He is aware of the elderly. It is a tool that does not require the installation of any new device and that provides peace of mind.
With the pandemic, both existing and new startups in the health sector have been able to adapt their business models to the needs of the population. Quite an achievement if we take into account the speed at which changes have taken place in recent months, and a guarantee of the future if we think about how life expectancy will grow in the coming years.
