Modern Health Talk offers three types of consulting services:

1. Online Assessments (FREE) to help researchers craft the future of medicine and help you identify personalized improvements to your home and health regimen
2. In-home Evaluations (affordable) to help you improve your physical facilities, including remodeling, and
3. Industry Consulting (negotiated) for Home Building, Consumer Electronics, Telecom & Health Care industries

Online Assessment of Personal Health & Home

How long does it take?
As little as 3 minutes to start, but by spending more time you can get more specific recommendations. I personally spent over two hours exploring and answering over 500 questions. Come and go to learn more and continue where you left off.

How does it work?
As you anonymously answer questions about your home, health & family support, we reveal patterns and recommendations to help you make your home safer and help you and your doctor make better choices. And by participating, you help medical researchers discover new correlations and craft new treatments.

How else will I benefit?

You’ll see how your answers compare to others, but more importantly, your answers in aggregate will allow us to show you “discovered results” that are relevant to you personally.

How will Medical Researchers benefit?
The autonomous health information we collect also helps medical researchers at the University of Texas find unexpected correlations and new treatments. See “Health Care Is Next Frontier for Big Data.”

About the technology
Medical researchers at the University of Texas developed the Traitwise survey tool, and we’re working with them to extend it to also analyze your home healthcare needs and recommend basic home modifications. No one knows more about your home & health than you. You know what hurts, what makes you feel better and what doesn’t, your family’s history and other factors that affect your health and ability to get around in your home.

Housing application
Your answers help us recommend home improvements that support independent living, aging-in-place, and home healthcare. And the analysis of dozens of surveys will contribute to market research that helps us promote universal design principals and influence future home building and product development.

Medical application
Survey analysis may also find that certain medical treatments work better for people with specific profiles and family histories, and if you fit that description, you and your doctor may explore that treatment over alternatives. For example, it took many years to discover that women who breastfeed their children have lower rates of genetically caused breast cancer, and there are thousands of such correlations yet to be discovered.

How does medical research benefit from my contributions?
Scientific studies of many people over many topics are expensive and rare, so researchers hope this survey tool will help them find connections between disparate aspects of health ranging from environment to treatments. While Traitwise survey data is not a substitute for the scientific method, it can generate unexpected hypotheses to test later.

Do I have to create an account to use the Traitwise survey?
No, but there are significant benefits to doing so. Without an account we cannot send our recommended home improvements or track your answers from session to session, and therefore we might ask you the same questions more than once. Furthermore, with an account you can track the status of communication you’ve had with us or other users.

What about privacy?
Without creating an account, no one sees your survey answers; not even you when you return. And even when you create an account, we don’t see anything unless you specifically allow it. But now there’s a way for your answers to accelerate medical research and improve healthcare for all of us. It’s with another Traitwise partnership, Reg4All.org. (Watch their video on YouTube.)

Can I submit questions?
Yes! We encourage it. You might ask, “Is anyone else out there noticing …?” or “Does anyone else get headaches when you …?” Your answers allow you to learn what you have in common with others and to swap information with communities of people like you. For example, a solution that worked well for a person with similar traits may work well for you, too. Your answers also help improve home- and health-related knowledge in general and feed into a sanitized database for analysis by researchers to help them find important correlations. We do review questions to eliminate redundancies, so your contributions will not be immediately visible.

What’s in this for Modern Health Talk and Traitwise?
We are for profit companies but do not sell your personal data. We plan to profit by selling sponsored questions that are clearly labeled as such and by selling sanitized market research based on accumulated data. Any data shared with third parties is given anonymously with no personal identifying information.

What is a sponsored question?
Sponsored questions are clearly marked. Answers are returned to sponsors without your name or any answers to your private questions. Of course, you can “Skip” these questions if you choose to but, by choosing to answer these sponsored questions, you help to keep Traitwise a free service. For example, a sponsor “DrugCorp” might ask two questions that you answer and receive your two answers attributed to anonymous user number, say, “1234567″.

For In-Home Evaluations call 512-507-6011

(currently serving Central Texas)

Remain in the Home and Save the Estate Modifications based on professional home assessments can enable injured, disabled or chronically ill people to stay in their homes and community, thus reducing care costs and preserving assets and the family estate. Such changes can also reduce accidents such as falls, ease the performance of daily functions, facilitate hospital discharges, decrease readmissions, improve independence and self-management, assist caregivers and care coordination, and avoid expensive institutional care.Each Situation is Unique Professional in-home assessments are important because homes vary widely in their location, size, condition, and physical characteristics; and each of these factors affects provision of care and how health technologies are used. Individuals and families also differ – in their wellness, willingness to change the home environment to facilitate health care, preferences for where they perform basic activities of daily living, willingness to use health technologies, ability to participate in daily care, and in their financial means. Since each household is unique, solutions that may be suitable for one individual, family caregiver and home may not be appropriate or effective for others.For Affiliate Relationships, call Wayne at 512-507-6011

Physical Environment Assessment Our objective is to help you prioritize investments that remove barriers and make the home more assessable, comfortable, convenient and safe for home health care and aging in place. We start by considering the type of home structure (single-family detached, duplex, townhome, apartment or mobile home), its age & condition, layout, accessibility, support features, and presence of pets.Some of the least expensive improvement ideas might include furniture placement & organization, adjustable storage & shelving, grab bars & hand rails, “comfort” height toilets, handheld shower heads & anti-scald faucets, and lever style door & faucet handles. Other ideas with moderate costs include wider doorways, level door thresholds & entries, stair ramps & lifts, elevators, non-slip flooring, brighter lighting, security & automation systems, intercoms & electronic door locks, exercise equipment, bedding, and lift/transfer devices.More expensive kitchen & bath remodeling can include multiple counter heights, knee space under sinks & cabinets, and curb-less showers & walk-in tubs, but many options are limited by space and cost. If needed, we can help connect you with contractors, interior designers, realtors or other non-medical specialists to help with remodeling, adding on, downsizing, finding a roommate, or other housing options.Community Environment If desired, we can discuss challenges posed by the location (244M urban/suburban, 65M rural), neighborhood safety, streets & sidewalk condition, parks & recreation centers, shopping, transportation, family income, and cultural and weather influence.Assistance Technologies Although your physician or physical therapist is your first source for assistive technology recommendations, Modern Health Talk has lots of information about low- and high-tech solutions such as personal emergency response systems (PERS), medical & bio feedback sensors, pill dispensers, lift devices, adjustable beds, clocks & phones with large displays, mobile smart phones, video conferencing, remote monitoring services, security & intercom systems, and smart home technologies. Call Wayne at 512-507-6011

 Flyer (PDF)

Industry Consulting

Wayne Caswell helps organizations envision, find and exploit new opportunities in home health, home networking, broadband, and wireless markets, with a range of services that includes market & competitive analysis, strategic planning, and market development.

As an independent consultant, Wayne Caswell writes & speaks often & passionately, promoting causes he believes in. As a consumer advocate, he successfully lobbied the Texas legislature to protect the rights of communities to install municipal networks and abolish an abusive state agency. He served on the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee in three working groups: (1) Advanced Technology, (2) Homeland Security, and (3) Rural & Underserved Populations.

Wayne co-founded Homeowners of Texas, a nonprofit consumer advocacy that, in its first year and with no outside funding, took on powerful lobbyists of the $35 Billion Texas Homebuilding industry and won in a legislative battle at the State Capitol. Wayne served for two years as Communications Director of HOT and was instrumental in convincing lawmakers to establish new consumer protection laws and abolish the Residential Construction Commission.

Wayne’s complete BIO and portfolio can be found at www.WayneCaswell.com.