Aged Care tech demand rising as HSC partners with Harvey Norman

As Victoria grapples with their COVID-19 aged care crisis, interest in contact-free assistance is growing with HSC Technology (ASX: HSC) entering a reseller agreement with Harvey Norman for their smart care platform.

An integrated telehealth solution, HSC Care offers a suite of products which can monitor aged care residents through sensors and monitoring devices. The platform then gathers data and uses artificial intelligence to identify the resident’s standard movements and relay alerts back to loved ones if they change.

Under the 3-year agreement with Harvey Norman Commercial Division NSW, HSC Care and HSC Home will be distributed through Harvey Norman’s trade-only market with scope for expansion into other channels.

“Harvey Norman Commercial provides access to their national network who specialise in supplying clients with large volume needs such as housing developments, retirement villages, hospitals, schools, and a range of other opportunities potentially needing home automation or telecare solutions,” said HSC Managing Director, Graham Russell.

“More and more end users are demanding better home and care automation solutions and partnering with Harvey Norman Commercial NSW allows us to provide our products and services to a much larger market.”

Although HSC Tech does not expect the partnership to have an immediate material impact on sales, the coronavirus pandemic has heightened safety fears of aged care residents and their families due to the rapid spread of the virus once it enters a facility.

With weaker immune systems among older Australians, the majority of coronavirus-related deaths have been in those older than 60 years old. Subsequently, there has been rising interest in aged care monitoring technology that can be operated remotely and contact-free.

For the quarter ending 30 June 2020, HSC Technology had more than 2,700 active subscriptions and reported $920k in cash receipts.