Aging in Place: A Look at the Eldercare Industry

In personal news, my family is beginning to navigate home healthcare for my aging father. He became my father at the tender age of 52, often being mistaken for my grandfather in grocery stores and restaurants. On my most recent visit home, his neurologist moved the scale from mild dementia to mid-grade dementia and peripheral neuropathy, a nerve dysfunction that rapid reduces his mobility and dexterity, particularly in his feet and hands. While his age makes this prognosis fitting, my age, 33, puts me years ahead of my peers, with parents still enjoying the first years of retirement and running after grandkids. Like a true millennial, I'm looking for the disruptors making sense of the disjointed and confusing landscape of eldercare in America.

The Impact of COVID on Aging Adults
COVID had a way of revealing inequalities and inadequacies in our nation's healthcare system, particularly for BIPOC and low-income people. Seniors, whose age makes them particularly vulnerable to the disease, represent 16% of the population but account for 80% of COVID-related deaths. For states with higher rates of seniors in long-term care facilities, the death rates due to COVID versus other causes reach upwards of 90%. Just as importantly, the issue of nursing home infection rates hasn't gone anywhere. With increasing staff shortages in many facilities, thousands of seniors are still dying from the disease, as found in a recent AARP study. There is also the mental health aspect, in which isolation from family members and reduced access to services can drastically increase depression and anxiety in older adults.

Image Credit: Grayce 

Aging in Place
New York is prioritizing efforts to keep the city's aging population at home. In April, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a five-year Community Care Plan to inject $58MM into services that benefit seniors living at home. With the pandemic's big reveal about the dangers of nursing homes with the spread of infectious diseases, more people are looking for ways to keep their aging loved ones in the home and looking for home health care workers instead. Nursing home populations are down 15%, in part due to COVID-related deaths as well as a lower influx of new residents. 

Biden's Promise
During his campaign, President Biden promised $450BN in spending for long-term care and support in patient homes and communities. A House committee slashed that number to $190BN in the Democrats' $3.5TN package. As of Oct. 4th, with crucial Democrats saying they won't support a bill over $1.5TN, senior care is on the chopping block to avoid cutting other popular programs, like universal Pre-K and climate spending.

The Elder Care Industry
The "silver tsunami" is currently underway with a projected home care market of $225BN by 2024. But VCs are struggling to find innovators, and private companies are hard-pressed to find employees.  Here are some of the companies that are finding their way to profitability in the sector. 

Papa connects seniors with "Papa-pals," non-medical workers who will have virtual phone calls, stop by for in-person visits, run errands, or fold laundry. If the prospect of navigating an app-based service isn't feasible, they'll even teach seniors how. Meanwhile, Retirable offers financial services for seniors to plan for retirement based on their financial means. The company raised a $4.7MM seed round last year.

Alternate Solution Healthcare System has won a slew of awards for its in-home supportive care model. Headquartered in Kettering, Ohio, this woman-owned company specializes in services for homebound individuals through Medicare. Honor works with families, caregivers, and home care agency owners to provide reputable services for everyone involved. The company raised $370MM from Baillie Gifford earlier this month and made a sizable acquisition of a nursing home franchise company called Home Instead.

Grayce is refreshingly a one-stop-shop for families with an aging loved one, providing "holistic guidance" through insurance, finances, legal plans, home care, and beyond. The company works with employers to subsidize  services for employees who become caregivers in their families. 

For more private companies in this industry, search the keyword "senior care" on our database.