Adam Jahnke

Case Study: Co-designing the Next Generation of Care at Home 

Concurrent Session D7 – Innovation – Enhancing Care Delivery
Friday 25 October 2024
11.00am – 11.30am
Image of ACCPA National Conference 2024 Speaker Adam Jahnke

CEO

Umps Health

Adam became a carer after his grandpa was hospitalised following a fall at home. Frustrated by the lack of effective tech solutions available to older adults, he was driven to build his own and founded Umps Health. Today, Umps supports thousands of older adults by providing smart home technology alongside traditional care services.

Adam’s background lies at the intersection of technology and public health. One of his earliest roles was at Cochlear China, where he worked with regional governments to make cochlear implantation more accessible to remote communities. Before founding Umps, he worked at Ericsson, developing and deploying digital infrastructure to improve the livability of cities in Australia and Southeast Asia.

In addition to his role at Umps, Adam advises several startups working in aged care and disability. He holds a Master of Public Health, a Bachelor of Commerce, and a Diploma of Languages (Mandarin).

Precis

The provision of home care in Australia is not scaling to meet the growing demand. While supply-side policies have improved short-term access to care, wait times for home care packages have increased, and the projected shortage of aged care workers continues to worsen.

Recognising these challenges, in 2022, Anglicare Southern Queensland, a provider of home care services to more than 25,000 people, partnered with Umps, an Australian-based developer of AI and smart home services, to design, develop, and pilot a new technology platform. This platform is intended to be deployed alongside traditional aged care services to enhance care outcomes and accessibility for older Australians in the context of the Support at Home reforms.

Over 12 months, Umps’ product and technology team were embedded within Anglicare’s service delivery organisation, establishing direct relationships with clients, care workers, care managers, and team leaders. Both organisations leveraged their complementary expertise to identify key challenges in delivering home care services and explore opportunities to scale AI and sensor-based technology.

The result? The Anglicare Home Hub—a concept that uses AI and sensors to provide clients with 24/7 proactive support at home, enabling seamless communication with their Anglicare case managers and driving truly client-centred outcomes. In 2024, the Anglicare Home Hub was piloted among nearly 50 clients on home care packages, with an acceptance rate of nearly 100% and high levels of ongoing client engagement.

Session Goals
In this presentation, Sue Cooke, CEO of Anglicare SQ, and Adam Jahnke, CEO of Umps, will provide an overview of their partnership, the co-design methodology, and the outcomes of piloting the Anglicare Home Hub. This session aims to empower attendees with insights into:
• Enabling effective, focused, and outcomes-driven partnerships with innovative technology partners;
• Harnessing internal organisational knowledge to catalyse the design of new technology products;
• Leveraging advancements in AI and sensor-based technology in a home care context;
• Navigating operational considerations when piloting technologies to maximise the likelihood of successful technology deployments at scale.

Ageing Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, sea, waters and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders past and present.