Senior health management through internet of things and real-time big data analytics

In 10 years, one third of the population in developed countries will be 60-years or older. 90% of seniors want to age in their own homes, not a facility. Families want to know that their aging parents are healthy and safe. It is extremely challenging for seniors with chronic conditions to manage their day-to-day medical needs and prevent medical emergencies, e.g. stroke, fall, etc. With the rapid growth of Internet of Things, increasing popularity of wearable medical devices or monitor devices, and other sensors at home, the opportunity for senior health management and prevention of medical emergency at home has never been better with big data platform, integration of massive and diverse data sources, e.g. medical charts from doctor's office, prescription information from pharmacies, claims data from insurance companies, more importantly, real-time data stream from Internet-of-things, wearable devices, and other vital and sensor data at home; and even more critically, real-time alerts of various risks from predictive analytics connected with providers, care givers and family members. In this paper, we will analyze the scope of the problem, and present current status and challenges in this area. Secondly we will propose a prototype schema to address this problem through Internet of things and real-time big data predictive analytics. Finally we will discuss some technical and non-technical challenges observed.