Where Long-Term Care Insurance Is Heading

2. An increased emphasis on aging in place — both at the sessions offered and at the booths in the exhibition hall.

The closing session — the LTC Innovators Invitational Challenge — was a competition produced by Plug and Play, a venture capital firm. It featured eight aging-in-place startups.

Representatives from each company told a panel of judges why their product offering would benefit carriers managing blocks of long-term care insurance business, while competing for a cash prize.

The focus was on using technology to achieve wellness. Insurance companies could use the approaches these firms have developed to prevent or reduce the severity of claims and improve health outcomes.

Examples of these early interventions include fall prevention programs; home modification consultations, analysis and implementation to facilitate aging in place; caregiver support programs for both formal and informal caregivers; next-generation care coordination services; and technological solutions aimed at improvements in cognitive impairment prevention and early diagnosis.

ILTCI says it will hold the 2023 conference in Denver, and it's wonderful to think about what kinds of new aging-in-place innovations might show up there.

Next year in Denver!

Margie Barrie, an agent with ACSIA, has been writing the LTCI Insider column since 2000. She is blogging about long-term care planning with Chris Petillo, and preparing to launch an LTC podcast series, at Faegre Drinker's LTCi Summit website/