EasyCare Academy Launches Digital Platform for Person-Centred Care Assessment

GENEVA (9 November 2017) – Today EasyCare Academy announced the release of Respond 4.0, the company’s new digital assessment platform and the appointment of its executive leadership team. EasyCare Academy is a social impact company focused on supporting personalized care for healthy ageing to enable people to live better as they live longer.

As the global rise in the ageing population creates stress on families, communities, healthcare systems and governments, better management of activities of daily living through compassionate care and improved understanding of the biopsychosocial and environmental needs that accompany ageing can help alleviate those stresses by improving health, independence and well-being. EasyCare Academy’s social mission is focused on meeting these needs.

“At EasyCare Academy, we are focused on providing digital solutions for training and education to empower caregivers and others who care for people as they age to support healthier, happier lives,” said Peter Nicholson, Co-Founder, President and CEO of EasyCare Academy. “Improving independence enables ageing in place and enhances overall quality of life, and the resulting cost savings contribute to the possibility of health system sustainability. Respond's holistic approach to address not only the medical needs of the ageing population but also the social, psychological and environmental needs is one answer to the looming sustainability crisis.”

To date, Respond has been used to assess more than 1 million older people and connect them to local resources.  And, now with more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 5 for the first time in human history, the elder caregiving gap will only widen without new efforts to improve how care reaches those who need it. By equipping anyone dedicated to enhancing the lives of older people with data-driven, tech-enabled and personalized tools and resources, EasyCare Academy will enable and empower older people to stay more active, healthy and independent and live richer, fuller lives.

Respond 4.0 is the social impact company’s flagship digital solution

Respond 4.0 is a digitized questionnaire featuring a standardized 52-point evaluation to assess an older person’s needs and concerns across biological, social, psychological and environmental domains. Based on this information, the Respond 4.0 platform generates an independence score, the ERIS (EasyCare Respond Independence Score) and a customized care solution tailored to the older person’s specific needs, priorities and location.

“When my team and I began developing the Respond assessment 28 years ago, we envisioned a tool that could address one of the greatest challenges of the global ageing phenomenon – and that is properly addressing the needs of older people and their caregivers – and that meant assessing the whole person and each person individually,” said Prof. Ian Philp, MD, CBE, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of EasyCare Academy. “Today, we are proud to make that capability available in every corner of the world through this fourth generation of our standardized approach, data-driven insights, personalized response methodology, and powerful digital platform.”

Respond has been validated by more than 90 scientific, peer-reviewed publications and has shown proven benefits for healthcare professionals, social workers, organizers of community programming, and caregivers – both family and professional – and those with years of experience or new to the field.

Used in nearly 50 countries, Respond has consistently produced positive results, including increased functional ability, independence and community engagement in older people. During the recent WHO Global Consultation on Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE), EasyCare Academy shared these findings from its work in the UK, China and Uganda, demonstrating its ability to improve lives across geographies and income levels. Moreover, the tool has enabled cost savings for healthcare and long-term care systems – estimated as high as £3.3B over 15 years in reduced costs in the UK, according to a recent study. Just as importantly, Respond helps combat ageism by ensuring that the needs of older people are not overlooked – a growing concern as longevity becomes a hallmark of 21st century life.

In addition to customizing care for individuals, the EasyCare Academy platform is designed to collect de-identified longitudinal data at scale from Respond 4.0 assessments. With this data, EasyCare Academy can identify and analyze global, regional and local trends to inform new policies, products, services and technologies that help maintain functional ability as individuals age.

The Respond 4.0 package includes training needed to become a certified assessor, consultation on integrating the tool as a business solution, licensing rights to the digital platform with its dashboard to generate ERIS independence scores and personalized care plans based on each individual’s needs and priorities. Respond 4.0 is now available by visiting www.EasyCareAcademy.com.