LTC Bullet: SOA Tech Summit Dazzles

Friday, November 8, 2019

Seattle—

LTC Comment: LTC techies convened in Silicon Valley yesterday with dazzling results. We give you a taste of the event after the ***news.***

*** TODAY'S LTC BULLET is sponsored by Claude Thau, whose revolutionary “Range of Exposure” tool projects clients’ likelihood (joint for a couple) of spending $100,000; $250K; $500K or over $1,000,000 on LTC, based on their personal characteristics, and estimates how much of their cost in each range would be covered by various traditional or linked insurance designs. He also offers other ways to educate and help clients make informed final decisions in 15-20 minutes! Change work-site LTCi from a series of proposal deliveries to an interactive consultation! Claude is the lead author of Milliman’s annual Broker World LTCi Survey & a past Chair of the Center for Long-Term Care Financing. You can reach him at 913-403-5824 or claude.thau@gmail.com. ***

*** ILTCI NEWS: Check out the latest news about the 2020 Inter-Company Long-Term Care Insurance Conference here, including

EXTRA, EXTRA: To celebrate the upcoming 20th iteration of the ILTCI conference in March, Steve Moses is preparing a history of the annual industry convocation. You’ll get details on each year’s event and even some pictures of early attendees. This walk down memory lane will double as a pretty good history of the LTCI business itself. Stay tuned. For access to a pre-publication copy of this report as soon as it’s available, be sure you’re a paid-up individual member or you work with a corporate member of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Join here or contact Steve at smoses@centerltc.com or 425-891-3640 to get all the benefits of Center membership. ***

 

LTC BULLET: SOA TECH SUMMIT DAZZLES

LTC Comment: Who’d have thought 50 years ago that we’d live in the electronic world of omnipresent information we inhabit now? Will the relatively technologically stodgy realm of long-term care services and financing transform alike in the next five decades … or five years? Man, it sure looks like it if you consider the transformative ideas conveyed in yesterday’s Society of Actuaries Technology Summit.

The SOA Tech Summit convened at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley on November 7, 2019. We watched the whole program by livestream and we’ll give you a little flavor here of what it was like. But keep an eye open in the weeks ahead for the opportunity to purchase the program on the SOA website for your personal viewing.

The idea to explore how technology can transform long-term care was the brainchild of actuary Vince Bodnar of Oliver Wyman, ably assisted by LTC thought leaders Eileen Tell and John O’Leary as co-chairs. Maria Ferrante-Schepis from Maddock Douglas was a key partner in the effort and she ably emceed yesterday’s program.

For starters, scan the Tech Summit’s agenda here. (Go to the first “Agenda” link at the top, not the briefer “Event Agenda” under “Event Overview.”) There, you can click through to thumbnail descriptions of each of the sessions. What’s more, you can actually download each presenter’s detailed presentation to review at your leisure. We only have room to touch briefly on these sessions, but they’re all worth your careful review and consideration.

Mike Maddock gave the opening keynote address titled “The Disruptors Mindset,” advising disruptors to change focus from just generating more ideas to operationalizing empathy. See Maddock’s best-selling book, Plan D: Why the Future Belongs to the Disruptors and How to Dream, Drive and Deliver Like the Crazy Ones, for all the details.

Laurie M. Orlov of the Aging in Place Technology Watch delivered the 2nd opening keynote address presenting a roadmap for the technology and long-term services and support marketplace covering where it has been, what it does best, where it is going, and the challenges it faces. Her presentation is here.

The first panel session was “Information Overlord,” covering how to gather and leverage information to bend the cost curve. Meet the presenters and review their presentations here.

Session #2 was “Alzheimer’s and Dementia Tech” about employing technology to enable better care, mood management and even slowing and reversing memory loss for Alzheimer's and dementia care. Meet the presenters and review their presentations here.

The third 50-minute panel session was “Family Caregiver Empowerment” covering support systems and new solutions to enable caregivers to deliver better care and reduce personal stress. Meet the presenters and review their presentations here.

After a 10-minute (strictly adhered to) “refreshment break,” the Tech Summit changed pace. Matt Capell of LTCG introduced a session titled “Social Challenges: Addressing Cost Transparency.” He explained how LTC costs are rising for families, providers, government and private payors creating a desperate need for disruptive solutions. Then emcee Maria led the attendees in a “mind-mapping” exercise to brainstorm ideas for later review and evaluation.

With a 45-minute lunch break behind them--allowing less time for lunch than for the panel discussions indicates the organizers’ priorities--participants returned to another series of panel discussions.

Session #4: “Using Predictive Analytics to Prevent and Manage Care Needs” explored the new tools and technologies that can change the way we evaluate, manage and expand access to care expertise and empathy.

Session #5: “Whole Person” covered the complex interactions between care providers, medicines and behavior. Meet the presenters and review their presentations here.

Session #6: “Smart Home - Smarter Care” covered the interplay between technology and design to create safe, comfortable and thriving environments for aging in place and managing care costs. Meet the presenters and review their presentations here.

The SOA Tech Summit’s “Closing Discussion: Innovating in a High Stakes/High Barrier Industry and Where to Go From here?” featured Mary Furlong of Mary Furlong & Associates talking about investment in the “longevity market.”

Finally, after a long, fully packed, and fast-paced day, participants retreated to a “Cocktail Hour and Networking Reception,” again showing the organizers got their priorities right, allowing more time for this critical closing activity than for either lunch or each panel.

Watch for future Tech Summits and don’t miss the next one.