Are you caring for a loved one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia? Are you managing his or her finances?  Does this cause you stress? It is often difficult for caregivers who have multiple responsibilities to juggle everything effectively. Many caregivers have families and careers and managing bills can be a complex responsibility that is time consuming and burdensome. Outsourcing bill management tasks can be extremely useful and may help avoid missing deadlines, being victimized by scams, and minimize the risk of other financial problems.

SilverBills provides household bill management and helps individuals outsource the job of managing bills to trusted, vetted professionals with whom they can form personal relationships.  SilverBills is a concierge bill paying service that receives, reviews, stores and ensures that clients’ bills are paid correctly. Due to SilverBills’ proprietary software and personal support, all bills will be paid on time. Each client is paired with a U.S. based SilverBills Account Manager and client computer use is optional.  Clients may call their Account Managers on the phone and may also use email, U.S. mail, text or faxes. SilverBills is part of the highly curated AARP AgeTech collaborative.

Recently, SilverBills was awarded a $1.9 Million Small Business Innovation Research (“SBIR”) grant by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. This grant will fund a study that will assess whether the SilverBills tool, which provides bill payment, budgeting, taxes, and secure legal document storage services, can decrease dementia caregiver stress, and increase quality of life. After an initial phone consultation, participants will be enrolled, free of charge, in the SilverBills service for approximately one year. The study requires caregivers to fill out two 20-minute questionnaires throughout the one year of service and researchers will measure caregiver burden including financial, physical, and emotional well-being.

Participation in this study is fully remote and can be completed from home. The award will fund the development of additional features of SilverBills’ technology that address legal and financial challenges faced by the caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s related dementias. Marci Lobel-Esrig, Founder, CEO and General Counsel of SilverBills stated that “it is an incredible honor to be the recipient of this grant as it will enable SilverBills to further develop a technology application that will greatly ease the burden of Alzheimer’s caregivers. As a result of this project, we anticipate that Alzheimer’s caregivers will feel well-supported and better prepared for the challenges that they face with respect to financial and legal issues.”. Dr. Eric Chess and his research team at the University of Denver will collaborate on the project. Dr. Chess is the Director of The Paul Freeman Financial Security Program at the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging and is a physician and lawyer with a focus on prevention, wellness, and aging populations.

If you are interested in learning more about the study and one free year of SilverBills services email NIHstudy@silverbills.com or call toll-free at 855-553-7330. Also visit www.silverbills.com to learn more about the service.