Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIA

Description

Project Summary/Abstract We propose to develop an innovative tool to aid caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD- related dementias (ADRD) in obtaining guidance for appropriate financial management and legal planning. Financial management is one of the two most cited sources of significant stress among caregivers. Legal planning, while often enjoined with financial management, presents additional challenges and needs. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of caregivers for Persons with Dementia (PwD) report successfully completing needed planning processes, which include the execution of accompanying documents. In addition to the difficulties in completing these processes, PwD are dramatically more vulnerable to fraud, scam, and engaging in inappropriately risky financial transactions, all of which additionally increase financial risks to caregivers. The proposed tool will strongly leverage user needs and barriers in the design and development process, which when combined with cutting-edge technology, will help ensure that the resulting product will overcome impediments to effective utilization that have plagued prior approaches. The value of the proposed project lies in its potential to improve the health, well-being and effectiveness of individuals caring for persons with dementia. Such improvements are hypothesized to ultimately improve the health of patients. The objective of this project is to develop and commercially deploy the proposed tool.Project Narrative This project involves the development of an innovative tool to aid caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias in obtaining guidance for appropriate financial management and legal planning. Currently, there are many articles, guides, and websites that provide information on individual topics or list steps caregivers should complete for proper financial management and legal planning. However, these assorted resources do not provide accessible, comprehensive and personalized planning to most caregivers, and are therefore underutilized. There is a significant need for the proposed tool.