National Research Project for 2023-2025
The following are the mental healthcare topics for this national research project:
- Recently, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal agency with a $48 billion annual budget, published its first report on exploring AI-based online mental healthcare as an option for millions of Americans, and "AI has proved helpful in diagnosing different kinds of mental illness, often via means unavailable to human therapists" (NIH, 2023). A significant challenge to still overcome in America is the stigma of mental illness and lack of understanding by others, resulting in a reluctance to seek mental healthcare (MAYO CLINIC, 2023).
- Surprisingly, more than one-third of Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental healthcare professionals, and 80% of rural counties have no mental healthcare local services (NIH, 2023). Telehealth for mental healthcare counseling costs $40 to $90 per session and requires 15 to 20 sessions. (GoodRX, 2023). America needs 72,890 additional mental healthcare professionals by 2025 to meet the mental health service demand of the US population (NIH, 2020).
- In 2023, an estimated seven million Americans had undiagnosed Mild Cognitive Impairments (WebMD, 2023), and 10 to 15% percent (700,000 or more) of this group annually may transition to early-stage Alzheimer's disease that has no cure, in addition to the over six million Americans each year already diagnosed with this degenerative nerve disease (MAYO CLINIC, 2023).
- America's mental healthcare shortage is now increasing due to the millions of citizens with a known genetic predisposition known as "APOE4" for Alzheimer's disease, family history, combined with lifestyle risk factors, including unmanaged chronic health issues, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, alcohol abuse, smoking, and lack of mental stimulation (Dementia Prevention, 2023).
- Throughout the United States, over 85% of primary care physicians (PCPs) expect to see an increase in Alzheimer's disease - dementia patients over the next five years, but less than 50% of the PCPs in America are prepared to meet this healthcare demand. Alzheimer's annual healthcare cost for the nation has surpassed $300 billion and is projected to reach $1 trillion annually by 2050 at its current growth rate (Alzheimer's Association, 2023).
- Today, in the United States, there are over 8 million adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and over 6 million adults diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. More than 90% of Americans with MCI are unaware that they have MCI, which can transition into Alzheimer's disease that has no cure. A major mental healthcare problem exists due to the national shortage of experienced mental healthcare professionals.
APA research references are available upon request by emailing HelpDesk@AIBOTWORX.com. All information on the website is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Ask a doctor for their advice regarding any health-related topics on this website.
Mental Healthcare in America
Over 100 million Americans live in counties with a shortage or no mental health care due to the national shortage of mental health professionals.
In 2023, it was estimated over seven million Americans had undiagnosed Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI).
America needs an additional 72,890 mental healthcare professionals by 2025 to meet the mental health service demand.
AI-PROGRAMS (Available Soon)
Fast.FORWARD ™
Available Soon. This AI-based cognitive activities/exercise program designed by AI BOT WORX is based on research with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps, National Institutes for Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) federal government agencies.
The Fast.FORWARD program/managed service is intended for the following types of mental healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, senior communities, and at-home caregivers:
- Senior living, assisted living, and memory care facilities totaling over 30,000 locations.
- Mental healthcare and hospitals/rehabilitation centers totaling over 18,000 locations.
- Healthcare clinics and 55 + retirement communities totaling over 52,000 locations.
- Nonprofit organizations (NPOs), including churches totaling over 380,000 locations.
- At-home caregivers for adults with Alzheimer's disease/dementia totaling over 5 million.
Fast.FORWARD utilizes an easy-to-use, game-based design for individual and group activities focused on cognitive exercises/learning, problem-solving tasks, and social interaction. This specialized program is for adults with memory decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other types of dementia. It can also be a proactive cognitive exercise for 55 + age adults or earlier.
An AI-based version for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and Smart TVs is being developed for at-home use, in addition to an interactive 55-inch touch display solution for group settings and a smaller interactive 24-inch or 32-inch touch display with wall-mount, tabletop moveable stand, and for medical-type beds accessibility.
Examples of activities that can promote the formation of new neural pathways:
- Frequently Learn New Knowledge (*)
- Problem-solving and Critical Thinking
- Reading and Intellectual Engagement
- Memory Exercises
- Creativity and Innovation
- Attention and Focus
- Reminiscence and Music
- Cognitive Stimulation Games
- Trivia - General Knowledge and more
- Physical Exercise and Social Interaction
(*) "When you're a "student" of life, who ushers in new information and stimuli, your brain is forced to respond and work in ways that build new networks" (Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 12 Weeks to a Sharper You, 2022).
Path.BUILDER ™
Available Soon. For professional and family caregivers of adults with memory decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and early stages of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia.
Path.BUILDER is a program/managed service developed by AI BOT WORX that designs and builds artificial intelligence (AI) cognitive exercises, problem-solving tasks, and day-planner schedules/activities called "Paths" for participants to follow easily with friendly natural language conversational AI bots.
- AI bots are primarily intelligent virtual assistants that can help people with many tasks.
- Over 80% of Americans with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia receive care in their homes. In 2023, there were over eleven million Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and MCI caregivers in the United States.
- Family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and MCI are at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and poorer quality of life than caregivers of people with other medical conditions.
Path.BUILDER is an "AI Virtual Assistant" that helps mental health professionals and family caregivers plan and manage daily activities for participants. It will be available for many smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, and Smart TVs with Internet connectivity.
Examples of activities that can promote the formation of new neural pathways:
- Frequently Learn New Knowledge (*)
- Problem-solving and Critical Thinking
- Reading and Intellectual Engagement
- Memory Exercises
- Creativity and Innovation
- Attention and Focus
- Reminiscence and Music
- Cognitive Stimulation Games
- Trivia - General Knowledge and more
- Physical Exercise and Social Interaction
(*) "When you're a "student" of life, who ushers in new information and stimuli, your brain is forced to respond and work in ways that build new networks" (Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 12 Weeks to a Sharper You, 2022).
All information on the website is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Ask a doctor for their advice regarding any health-related topics on this website.
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require review or approval on AI-based cognitive activities/exercise programs, which may be subject to change in the future. AI BOT WORX uses rules-based AI content for its mental healthcare industry solutions and does not use Generative AI GenAI-based content.
Best practices on Conversational AI bots for mental and medical healthcare include:
- Manage AI bot conversations proactively with accurate informational content.
- All AI bot content and updates must be documented with its source references.
- Any content should not be part of the Conversational AI Q&A process if it cannot be verified.
- It's worth the extra time to get it right and to test AI bot conditional branching responses. In addition, it's crucial to audit any Conversational AI bot dialog flow content changes for accuracy.
Amazon Lex securely stores the following four types of content:
- Sample content to build and train AI bots.
- Customer utterances from interacting with the AI bot.
- Session attributes for application-specific information.
- Request attributes that apply to a single request to an AI bot.
No Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Protected Health Information (PHI), or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data is stored for Conversational AI bot online sessions.
"AI-based systems raise concerns regarding data security and privacy. Because health records are important and vulnerable, hackers often target them during data breaches. Therefore, maintaining the confidentiality of medical records is crucial" (U.S. National Institutes of Health, 2023).
AI BOT WORX is powered by the same technology as Amazon Alexa and can support millions of daily AI bot sessions.
Our AI bots turnkey solution include:
- Healthcare Custom Vocabulary
- Natural Language Processing
- Automatic Speech Recognition
- Visual Conversation Builder
- Conditional Branching for Responses
- Data Privacy - Security with Auditing
- Reporting and Data Analytics