AI-based care plan compilation being mulled

May 2, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's health ministry is considering the use of artificial intelligence to draw up care plans for nursing care insurance service users.

The ministry will launch a national survey as early as August on how AI is being developed and on examples of AI use for nursing care, ministry officials said.

It also plans to compile by the end of the current fiscal year to March 2019 a report that will assess the effectiveness of AI-based care plans in alleviating the burden of care-givers and preventing the worsening of the condition of people who need nursing care, the officials said. The report will also list related problems to be tackled.

A care plan needs to be drawn up for aged people certified as needing long-term care before they receive nursing care insurance services. It is created mainly by care managers, considering service users' health condition and lifestyle.

AI is expected to help save time and effort to map out care plans and provide appropriate nursing care services based on accumulated data, helping care service users to be classified into less severe levels under Japan's certification system.

But it is uncertain to what extent the AI-based program of creating care plans will work. There are many challenges to be cleared before the program can be put into practice, including the selection of data to be learned by AI.

The ministry has thus decided to conduct a nationwide survey to identify specific challenges.

Last year, the city government of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, introduced an AI care plan initiative on a trial basis in collaboration with a private company, ahead of other municipalities in the country.

The municipality offered nursing case services to some 70 people under care plans compiled by an AI system that learned nursing care data the city government collected from 100,000 cases.

"We were able to provide with confidence (the nursing care services) thanks to plans that reflect past records," an official of the city government said. The AI-based program "was very helpful, also due to its ability to make future forecasts."

Meanwhile, care managers said the use of AI has changed their work style.

Due to a short trial period, the Toyohashi government has failed to examine whether the AI-based care plans helped reduce nursing care costs and make elderly people more independent.

It plans to give 600 people AI-based nursing care services in the current fiscal year and use the results of the initiative to develop AI systems and improve system operations, according to city officials.

The ministry plans to make efforts to introduce AI-based care plans by keeping watch on such measures taken by local governments and private companies, the ministry officials said. Jiji Press