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

项目摘要/摘要 患有阿尔茨海默病(AD)和AD相关痴呆(ADRD)的老年人需要值得信赖的财务支持 倡导帮助协调和监督他们随着年龄的增长而照顾他们。配偶和成年子女照顾者需要 围绕财务照看和如何获得资源支付长期费用的工具进行全面的教育- 定期服务和支持(LTSS)。这个SBIR项目将创建一个简单易用的基于决策树的在线决策 一种工具，可为护理者提供他们需要的准确知识，以便在没有 用不必要的信息压倒他们。我们关注的是极其复杂的帮助问题 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 能够浏览网站但对公众知之甚少的配偶或成年子女照顾者 帮助支付LTS费用的计划以及如何访问它们。医疗补助计划极其复杂，而且 资格规则因州而异。大多数照顾者没有经济或以前的照看经验 了解如何通过该计划获得资格，或者如何为LTSS提供一般资金。 照顾者通常从朋友那里获得建议或在网上搜索。缺乏量身定制的信息可能 导致财务失误，可能会延误AD/ADRD患者获得他们所需的护理水平，或者 导致照顾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符合资格的期限。如果患有AD/ADRD的人 有配偶居住在家里，该人的经济安全在缺乏适当的 计划。 为了满足这些需求，我们建议开发一个在线“助手”：(1)教育配偶和 成年子女照顾者关于长期护理资金/医疗补助资格的英文和西班牙文，(2)收集 有关照顾者的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，将照顾者推荐到计划 专业人士，如注册医疗补助规划师(CMPS)、资深律师、老龄机构或 适当的政府办公室。为了增加对信息的理解、可信度、享受性和可用性 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 提供程序数据库。

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.