While aging services organizations are tapping artificial intelligence (AI) tools to serve their staff, communities, and residents, AI can fill gaps for a different audience—family caregivers who need education and support as their loved one transitions to hospice. The market for such tools is substantial, experts said in a recent Hospice News article. “AI End-of-Life Navigation Takes Flight” shares opportunities and considerations around the development of AI tools that assist families.

Calling the lack of a pathway for family members an “access gap,” Lorenz Valdez, founder of the AI app LifeGuide, said that when a family member is diagnosed with a terminal illness, caregivers often are not aware of hospice resources that can help. He believes that AI can help fill this gap, especially for underserved populations. For example, LifeGuide helps families to navigate their loved one’s prognosis and decline, understand how hospice works, coordinate care and documents, and more.

Another tool, Central Health Intelligence, provides AI-driven clinical decision-making support to improve advanced care planning. AI prediction identifies patients at high mortality risk, guides health care providers through assisting patients with advanced care planning, and monitors patient outcomes. Impacts include five times more “goals of care” conversations with patients, over 50% increase in family satisfaction, and substantial savings for health care providers.

AI can enable families to have end-of-life conversations earlier so that caregivers are prepared, according to Dr. Brian Haas, national medical director of hospice at Ascend Health. Haas is the founder of Hospice Intelligence, a clinical tool that helps hospice nurses write recertification notes that avoid Medicare audits.

Both Valdez and Haas raised the need for guardrails around AI tools, which should be built to ensure patient safety and privacy, help families identify legitimate hospice providers, and employ algorithms that use regulated quality reporting systems to recommend providers. Human oversight will be essential to making these tools successful and invaluable resources to families and hospice providers.