By 2030, the population of seniors over 65 in the United States and Canada will exceed 82 million, representing nearly 20% of the total population. This shift highlights an urgent need for healthcare solutions that empower seniors to live independently while still receiving essential care. With limited healthcare resources and increasing costs, monitoring technologies that deliver care at home are essential for maintaining autonomy and quality of life, particularly for seniors who prefer to age in place.
Monitoring plays a vital role in reducing hospitalizations and enabling early interventions, particularly for chronic conditions common in older adults, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Remote health solutions alleviate the burden on the healthcare system by allowing routine monitoring without a healthcare professional present, thus addressing some of the fundamental barriers to continuous care. Ultrasound imaging, in particular, offers significant potential as a non-invasive and highly effective diagnostic tool. However, more than 80% of physicians lack the necessary training to use ultrasound reliably for diagnosis, and that creates a critical barrier to its adoption as a routine screening and monitoring modality.
Data underscores the demand for innovative home care solutions. A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) states that over 93% of older adults prefer to remain at home, while nearly 22% of those who transitioned to care facilities could have stayed at home if the proper support systems were in place. With seniors striving for independence and healthcare systems under pressure, the case for a robust, accessible monitoring solution becomes evident.
The concept of hospital-at-home is increasingly gaining traction, with major healthcare networks and hospitals embracing the approach to bring hospital-level care directly to patients' homes. Programs like those pioneered by Johns Hopkins Hospital at Home, Mount Sinai at Home and Mayo Clinic, Advanced Care at Home Coalition and many others have demonstrated that hospital-at-home care can reduce costs, improve patient outcomes, and increase satisfaction. Health insurers and payers are also recognizing the benefits and providing reimbursement options, further supporting these initiatives. This trend fits well within the “age-in-place” movement, as it aligns with the broader push to create more supportive home environments that offer the medical oversight seniors need without requiring disruptive moves to institutional care settings.
At Sonus, we are deeply aligned with these transformative shifts in healthcare. Our groundbreaking AI-powered ultrasound technology is designed to support hospital-at-home models and address the needs of seniors aiming to age in place. We believe that ultrasound has the potential to become a widely accessible standard for screening, especially when enhanced with AI to improve accuracy and eliminate the need for skilled operators. However, conventional ultrasound hardware and current technology lack the scalability and autonomy required to bring truly operator-independent diagnostics to market. Sonus’s highly sensitive, scalable polymer-based ultrasound technology is designed to bridge this gap, enabling advanced monitoring that is accessible to any care provider—or even individuals themselves—without specialized training. By making proactive health management simpler and more accessible, we aim to foster independence for seniors, reduce pressure on hospitals, and help control rising healthcare costs. With recent support from the envisAGE program and other partners, we are advancing our mission to develop solutions that empower seniors, enhance their quality of life, and ensure they can safely remain at home. For more on our progress, follow us on LinkedIn.