Deprescribing aged care AI tool gains $4.4m in funding

A five-year project to use AI to reduce the unnecessary use of medication in residential care has received more than $4.4 million. Deprescribing — the process of dose reduction or stopping of medication that is either no longer required or actively causing harm — is undertaken under strict supervision and faces challenges due to hesitance on behalf of the prescribing clinician, multimorbidity and limited communication.

AI-enhanced systems are believed to be able to address this, identifying deprescribing opportunities, tailoring plans and monitoring progress. “Integrating AI into routine workflows bridges communication gaps and supports decision-making, providing clinicians with personalised, data-driven insights to confidently navigate the deprescribing process,” researcher Dr Nasir Wabe said.

Wabe is from Macquarie University’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation and was awarded the funding through the Medical Research Future Fund 2024 Early to Mid-Career Researchers Grant Opportunity. “With the vast amount of electronic data available in aged care, AI offers an unprecedented opportunity to enhance medication safety,” Wabe said. This project aims to develop, implement and evaluate an AI-augmented platform for safe, efficient and person-centred deprescribing in aged care.

Partners in the project, providing in-kind support, are Anglicare, Australian Association of Gerontology, Australian Deprescribing Network, BestMed, Choice Aged Care, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Regis Aged Care and Southern Cross Care NSW and ACT. Researchers from Central Adelaide Local Health Network Incorporated, Edith Cowan University, University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney and University of Western Australia, are part of the chief investigator team.

Image credit: iStock.com/Biserka Stojanovic