Could artificial intelligence Predict when your elderly loved one will need long-term care?
About 70% of adults age 65 and older will need long-term care at some point in their lives, statistics show, and the time before that can be fraught with uncertainty.
A California company is looking to change that with its new artificial intelligence platform called Waterlily.
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Founder and CEO Lily Vittayarukskul started the platform after her own personal struggles with family caregiving.
“I had to deal with long-term care in my family as a teenager and that shaped my view on the importance of preparing for these crises,” she told Fox News Digital.
According to statistics, about 70% of adults aged 65 and older will need long-term care at some point in their lives. (iStock)
“My family was not very prepared when my aunt was diagnosed terminal stage cancer and we were thrown into a long-term care scenario. “So I know how difficult conversations become and how important it is to have them as soon as possible, before it's too late and all remaining options are unaffordable.”
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The experience inspired Vittayarukskul, a former NASA data scientist, to build a AI model to predict a family's care needs and help them plan logistics and financial plans.
How the platform works
The Waterlily AI platform begins by collecting demographic, health, and financial information from an individual through a detailed questionnaire.
“Using this data, we use multiple AI models to predict the individual's unique cost and care trajectory for their long-term care,” Vittayarukskul said.
Waterlily begins by collecting demographic, health, and financial information from an individual through a detailed questionnaire. (water lily)
The model predicts the probability that a old man will need long-term care, how old they will be when they need it, how many hours of care they will need, what facilities they would likely use, and how much their family will likely contribute.
“With all of these predictions, we can create hyper-personalized cost estimates for their long-term care and then model their current financial plan to see if their self-funding or insurance will cover the costs and help them model ways to close any gaps that remain,” Vittayarukskul said. .
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“By guiding families through these delicate conversations with data, we are helping to give concreteness and shape to an otherwise vague risk that many would rather disappear than face head-on.”
Answering the big questions
There are some general questions that every family faces when considering long term caresaid Vittayarukskul.
“Where will you age: at home or in a facility? Who in your family will be involved in your care? How many hours will be required of them?”
The model predicts the probability that an aging senior will need long-term care, how old the person will be when they need it, how many hours of care they will need, what facilities they would likely use, and how much it will cost their family. to intervene. (water lily)
“What I think is really interesting is the impact of a question that normally isn't even asked: [At] At what age will he need care?” Vittayarukskul said.
“This has a surprisingly huge impact on long-term care costs and financing strategies.”
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Health care costs They are expected to grow at a rate of 5.4% annually, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. So while a family can delay taking on the costs of long-term care, those costs will continue to increase over time.
“Long-term care costs double every 12 years,” Vittayarukskul said.
“That's why it's so important to think about how your long-term care financing strategy grows over time, whether through asset investments or an insurance policy with a measure of inflation protection, or another strategy.” .
The platform predicts the age at which a senior will need long-term care, allowing families to start planning sooner. (water lily)
Waterlily helps address this important question by predicting the age at which a user will begin to require long-term care.
“It can be a difficult number to face, but we have seen that looking at the number directly drives changes in well-being and sets in motion important family conversations about the planning process for users,” Vittayarukskul said.
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The key is to start the preparation process as soon as possible, he advised.
“It doesn't have to be a perfect plan or cover all current costs,” he said.
“It can be iterative, but it is much better to achieve even 10% of the planning today and start making preparations than to wait until it is too late.”
The application in action
The app is currently available through a waitlist, and more than 100 financial advisors already use Waterlily to create long-term care plans with their clients.
John Sieb, director of long-term care operations at Prudential Financial in Satellite Beach, Florida, used Waterlily as a client in March 2024. The company is testing it as a solution for its clients in 2024.
Waterlily also calculates the estimated costs of long-term care for an elderly senior. (water lily)
“Waterlily's care planning capability is a digital solution that analyzes care planning in a holistic and informative way using data and artificial intelligence, while including family, friends and trusted advisors in the decision-making process. of decisions,” Sieb said in a statement to Fox. Digital News.
“The tool was easy to navigate, presents different scenarios, and quickly determines critical next steps,” he continued. “It could be used in multiple phases of life: pre-retirement, retirement and receiving care.”
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Dustin Eldridge, founder and managing partner of TEAM Private Wealth Management in Dallas, Texas, said he has found Waterlily to be a good alternative to using insurance providers to make projections of clients' potential care needs, which could take a long time.
“This required multiple phone calls or emails, from the beginning of the process to obtaining the results,” he told Fox News Digital.
The app is currently available through a waitlist, and more than 100 financial advisors already use Waterlily to create long-term care plans with their clients. (water lily)
“With Waterlily, I can use the tool and get a projection in less than 10 minutes. As an advisor, this allows me to reduce the time I spend on these tasks, but more importantly, it allows me to provide real-time feedback for my clients “
Families interested in using Waterlily can ask their financial advisor to join the waitlist, or they can join in person later this year when the company launches direct-to-consumer access.
Benefits versus risks
While Waterlily presents significant potential benefits, there are some challenges to consider, according to Dr. Harvey Castro, a board-certified emergency physician based in Dallas, Texas and a national speaker on AI in healthcare.
“The handling of personal health data raises important privacy and security concerns that must be addressed carefully.”
Data and security are an important factor, noted Castro, who was not involved in the development of the platform.
“The handling of personal health data raises significant privacy and security concerns that must be addressed carefully,” he told Fox News Digital.
One artificial intelligence expert acknowledged that tools like Waterlily are needed amid an aging workforce. By 2050, most Americans will be over 60 years old. (iStock)
The accuracy of AI predictions also depends on the quality of the data the model collects, Castro noted, as any potential bias can pose risks to the quality of planning.
“It is also crucial to balance technological predictions with human judgment, ensuring that AI complements, rather than replaces, human experience,” the expert added.
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Despite the potential risks, Castro acknowledged that tools like Waterlily are needed amid an aging workforce: By 2050, most Americans will be over 60.
“At the current pace, we face a significant shortfall of healthcare providers to meet the needs of this aging population“Castro said.
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“AI stands out as a vital solution to these challenges and promises to support a sustainable healthcare system through more accurate care planning and potential automation of aspects of care.”
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