Covering Care: Long-term care planning and education tool for AD/ADRD caregivers

项目总结/摘要 患有阿尔茨海默病（AD）和AD相关痴呆症（ADRD）的老年人需要一个值得信赖的财务 倡导帮助协调和监督他们的照顾，因为他们的年龄。配偶和成年子女照顾者需要 围绕财务能力和工具开展全面教育，介绍如何获得资源， 长期服务和支持（LTSS）。这个SBIR项目将创建一个易于使用的基于在线决策树的 一个工具，让照顾者确切的知识，他们需要规划长期护理融资， 用不必要的信息压倒他们我们专注于帮助一个极其复杂的问题， 护理人员了解医疗补助，同时为医疗补助资格规划提供定制建议。 我们的财务管理和LTSS规划和教育工具-助理-将专为 配偶或成年子女的照顾者可以浏览网站，但对公众知之甚少 帮助支付LTSS的计划以及如何访问它们。医疗补助计划非常复杂， 资格规则因州而异。大多数照顾者没有财务或先前的照顾经验 了解如何导航的过程中成为合格的程序或如何融资LTSS一般。 照顾者通常从朋友那里获得建议或在网上搜索开始。缺乏针对性的信息可能 导致财务失误，可能会延迟AD/ADRD患者获得所需护理水平，或 导致护理者动用自己的储蓄来支付LTSS。其他错误包括耗尽资产 过快或不当的财富转移可能会延长不合格的时间。如果AD/ADRD患者 有一个配偶住在家里，这个人的财务安全是在没有适当的风险， 规划 为了满足这些需求，我们建议开发一个在线“助手”，它：（1）教育配偶， 成人儿童照顾者关于长期护理融资/医疗补助资格的英语和西班牙语，（2）收集 提供关于受照料者资产和残疾状况的信息，以提供所需的定制建议 执行计划和登记中的后续步骤，以及（3）如果需要，将护理人员转诊至计划 专业人士，如认证医疗补助计划（CMPs），老年律师，老龄化机构，或 合适的政府办公室。为了提高对网络的接受度、可信度、享受度和可用性， 助理，我们将使用一个创新的对话代理，由决策树数据库驱动，并经过认证 供应商数据库。

Project Summary/Abstract Older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) need a trusted financial advocate to help orchestrate and oversee their care as they age. Spousal and adult child caregivers need comprehensive education around financial caregiving and tools on how to access resources to pay for long- term services and supports (LTSS). This SBIR project will create an easy-to-use online decision tree-based tool to give a caregiver the exact knowledge they need to plan for long-term care financing without overwhelming them with unnecessary information. We focus on the extremely complex problem of helping caregivers understand Medicaid while providing customized recommendations for Medicaid eligibility planning. Our financial management and LTSS planning and education tool—the Assistant—will be designed for the spousal or adult child caregiver who can navigate websites but who has very little understanding of public programs that help pay for LTSS and how to access them. Medicaid planning is extremely complex and eligibility rules vary from state to state. Most caregivers do not have the financial or prior caregiving experience to know how to navigate the process of becoming eligible for the program or how to finance LTSS in general. Caregivers often start by getting advice from friends or by searching online. Lack of tailored information can lead to financial missteps that can delay individuals with AD/ADRD from getting the level of care they need, or result in the caregiver tapping into their own savings to pay for LTSS. Other mistakes include depleting assets too quickly or improper wealth transfers that may extend periods of ineligibility. If the person with AD/ADRD has a spouse residing in the home, that individual's financial security is at risk in the absence of proper planning. To address these needs, we propose to develop an online “Assistant” that: (1) educates spousal and adult child caregivers about long-term care financing/Medicaid eligibility in English and Spanish, (2) collects information on the care recipients' assets and disability status to provide customized recommendations needed to execute the next steps in planning and enrollment, and (3) if desired, refers caregivers to planning professionals like Certified Medicaid Planners (CMPs), elder law attorneys, Agencies of Aging, or to the appropriate government office. In order to increase uptake, trustworthiness, enjoyment, and usability of the Assistant, we will use an innovative conversational agent, driven by a decision tree database and certified provider database.