# SilverBills: A Legal, Technical and Financial Tool for Aging LGBTQ+ Individuals with Impaired Cognition.

> **NIH NIH R44** · SILVERBILLS INC. · 2024 · $35,000

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (AD/ADRD) and an
estimated 2.7 million LGBTQ+ Americans are older adults (MAP & SAGE, 2017). LGBTQ+ older
adults face discrimination and persecution throughout their lives, with only some recent legal
protections for their sexual orientation and/or gender identification statuses in the United States.
LGBTQ+ individuals with cognitive impairment are disproportionately impacted by their illness
because of their sexual/gender minority status, which may cause an LGBTQ+ older adult to delay
or avoid seeing a healthcare provider altogether due to fear of sexual orientation/gender identity
discrimination. The economic stability of LGBTQ+ individuals is threatened due to the
stigmatization and discrimination they have faced because of their sexual orientation/gender
identification throughout their lives, which has impeded their ability to save and accumulate
wealth; almost one third (32%) of LGBTQ+ adults aged 50 and older live on 200% of the Federal
Poverty Level or less, in contrast to only 26% of non-LGBTQ+ older adults aged 65 and older.
There are technology products that help foster economic wellbeing through tools that facilitate bill
management and budgeting; however, these products often require a high degree of technical
expertise and provide an insufficient degree of personal support to address the needs of those
with cognitive impairment who identify as LGBTQ+. This application addresses the lack of
financial management and legal support for older LGBTQ+ individuals with cognitive impairment,
because SilverBills will develop and add features to its product that will help prevent fraud,
encourage savings, and provide support for legal matters including legal claim support and
obtaining powers of attorney. The goal of this project is to improve the financial well-being of older
LGBTQ+ individuals with cognitive impairment through SilverBills V.3 financial and legal
management tool. The objective of the administrative supplement to our existing Phase II grant
(award number 5R44AG080843-02) is to receive technical and business funding to further
minimize risk. The proposal is to use the additional funding to become SOC2 (Health Information
Trust) compliant. SOC2 certification determines that SilverBills has met industry-defined
mandates and maintains the highest standards of cyber risk management and patient data loss
prevention. Our central hypothesis is that SOC2 certification will enhance our security protection
beyond cyberthreats. We aim to uphold that the SOC2 certification optimizes our efficiencies and
keeps our internal intelligence protected. As outlined in the parent grant, in collaboration with
researchers from the University of Denver, assess financial wellbeing and mental health in
LGBTQ+ individuals with cognitive impairment. The administrative supplement for Technical and
Business Assistance will benefit the study as the participants' data and sof...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10947443
- **Project number:** 3R44AG080843-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** SILVERBILLS INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric Chess
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $35,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10947443

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10947443, SilverBills: A Legal, Technical and Financial Tool for Aging LGBTQ+ Individuals with Impaired Cognition. (3R44AG080843-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10947443. Licensed CC0.

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