The Bathroom’s Role in the Home as Health Hub: Catching Up with Kohler Health’s CEO at CES 2026
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn on 6 January 2026 in Aging and Technology, Bathroom and health, Bedroom and health, Connected health, Consumer electronics, Consumer experience, Consumer-directed health, Design and health, Diagnostics, Diet and health, Digital health, Digital transformation, DTC health, Health apps, Health at home, Health care industry, Health Consumers, Health ecosystem, Health engagement, Healthcare access, Home care, Home health, Hospital to home, longevity, media and health, medical home, Nutrition, Omnichannel healthcare, Patient engagement, Patient experience, Personalized medicine, Popular culture and health, Primary care, Retail health, Self-care, Sensors and health, Smart homes, Trust, User experience UX, Wellbeing
A key Tech Trend to Watch at CES 2026 is consumers’ re-imagining and fitting out their homes as sites for bolstering health and well-being. I’ve been tracking this concept as far back as 2011 when I wrote this post from the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. A decade-and-a-half later, in déjà vu spirit, the concept is no longer theoretical or futures-thinking. Fast forward from 2011 to the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone’s home spaces became re-purposed for health, for medical care, for well-being, for fitness and exercise, for cooking up nutritious food, for
I'm once again pretty gobsmackingly happy to have been named a judge for the 2026 CES Innovation Awards, focusing on digital health, longevity, and fitness. Preceding every year's global conference, CES receives hundreds of applications from innovators around the world building tech-based solutions to big challenges. So glad to be part of this annual initiative to see what global health-tech pioneers are cooking up to address and scale the health and well-being of fellow health citizens, globally.
You can see the results of the Digital Health Awardees here on the #CES2026 website.
Stay tuned to Health Populi in early January as I'll be attending Media Days and meeting with innovators in digital health, longevity, and the home-for-health during CES 2026 in Las Vegas. I'll be at the conference for an entire week meeting with clients and exhibitors at the biggest-meeting-of-the-year on consumer-facing technology. I'll be reporting daily from Vegas here in the blog, sharing with you insights about the latest breakthroughs, products, and services that enable people to manage health, well-being, and medical issues in their own hands and homes.
Jane collaborated on Robin Strongin's Health Dame webcast to discuss Halle Tecco's new book, Massively Better Healthcare, due out in early 2026. We brainstormed with Maven Founder Kate Ryder and the company's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Neel Shah about the state of U.S. healthcare and solutions not just to tweak at the margins but to "massively" improve health care delivery, financing, outcomes, and equity in America. It was a delightful, enlightening conversation -- I hope you'll check it out.