Intelligent services for assisting independent living of elderly people at home

Abstract

For more than a decade it has been observed that due to the continuously augmenting elderly population, medical expenditures for home health care were exponentially raising every year. Healthcare organizations worldwide are being encouraged to find more efficient methods of providing high-quality care with cost savings. Elderly people who live alone may fear of being unable to obtain help if they are injured or ill. For many families, the specter of such an event can dominate decisions about living arrangements. During the last decades, this fear has generated an industry marketing house automations, alarm-and-notification systems as well as assistive technologies and interventions aiming in the easier and more efficient control of the living environment as well as to the provision of specialized home-care services. In the current paper, the most important aspects of the INHOME project architecture for improving the quality of life of elderly people at home is presented, which is mainly targeted in ameliorating the ways of providing intelligent services for assisting independent living of elderly people at home.