Western Home Communities (WHC), Iowa’s largest continuing care retirement community, has long been committed to holistic, person-centered care. Yet many prospective residents and their families found themselves uncertain about their future long-term care (LTC) needs: questions like when care might become necessary, how much care would be needed, and who would provide it were difficult to answer clearly. These uncertainties often complicated decision-making and delayed important family conversations.

When WHC introduced Waterlily’s personalized long-term care planning platform, it transformed the way families approached these critical conversations. Instead of relying on broad averages or hypothetical scenarios, families now receive individualized, data-driven forecasts tailored specifically to their health, lifestyle, and local care options.

How does Waterlily make planning more accurate?

Waterlily’s proprietary AI combines advanced predictive modeling with extensive data sources, including detailed health histories, lifestyle preferences, demographic trends, and real-time local care costs, to generate highly personalized forecasts. By analyzing thousands of unique scenarios and constantly refining its algorithms based on new data, Waterlily provides families with tailored, realistic care timelines and precise financial projections. This approach transforms uncertain estimates into clear, actionable insights, empowering families to plan confidently and communities like WHC to offer informed, meaningful guidance.

By partnering with Waterlily, WHC not only streamlined discussions around their Fortified Life program, offering guaranteed priority access to care, but significantly improved how families experience and understand LTC planning.

“We used to spend a lot of time explaining basic LTC concepts. With Waterlily, we jump right into personalized discussions about what’s relevant to each family. This has made our conversations more meaningful and easier for both families and our team.”

— Jacob Bates, Director of Fortified Life at WHC

Benefits for Families

Personalized Clarity

Instead of dealing with uncertain or confusing generalities, families receive clear, personalized insights into their likely future needs. Waterlily considers health history, preferences, and realistic local costs, creating a customized roadmap families can trust. This approach significantly reduces uncertainty and anxiety, empowering confident decisions.

Enhanced Family Collaboration

Waterlily supports families in mapping who may be involved in caregiving, whether it’s relatives, professionals, or community-based care. Clearly defined roles and expectations ease potential stress, reducing uncertainty and facilitating meaningful family conversations around caregiving responsibilities.

Empowered Financial Decision-Making

Families gain transparency about potential costs, funding options, and financial timelines for LTC. With clear insights, they can better manage resources, preserve savings, and align their choices with their broader life goals and legacy intentions.

Gary and Donna Brown sought clarity around their long-term health and financial future. Waterlily provided personalized scenarios that opened their eyes to the realistic timelines and costs associated with aging.

Initially concerned about costs, the Browns found reassurance through Waterlily’s clear depiction of how proactive planning with Fortified Life would help protect their assets. They also deeply valued the community atmosphere and compassionate care that WHC offers.

“Waterlily was able to take our individual situations and provide us life expectancy and end of life health costs to review. It definitely was an eye opener for us but in a good way. … With the Waterlily information and the information that Fortified Life has provided to us we decided to join the Fortified Life for two reasons. First being that Fortified Life will help us to live a lifestyle that can keep us healthier and living in our own Villa here at Western Home Communities as long as possible. Secondly even though the cost seems high at first the data supplied by Waterlily showed us that joining Fortified Life would allow us to protect a large portion of our life savings which we will be able to pass along to our children.”

— Gary and Donna Brown, Fortified Life Members

Improved Experience for the WHC Team

Streamlined Conversations

With Waterlily’s personalized forecasts, the WHC team spends less time on repetitive explanations and more time engaging in meaningful, actionable discussions. Families come into conversations already informed, enabling quicker, more confident decisions.

Deeper Consumer Trust

Families appreciate the transparency and personalization that Waterlily offers. By providing clear, individualized data, WHC builds stronger relationships based on genuine understanding and trust, fostering a supportive environment where families feel valued and heard.

Easier Enrollment and Follow-Up

Waterlily's clear, data-backed insights simplify the decision-making process, helping the WHC team efficiently guide families from initial inquiry to enrollment, helping enroll over $1M in projected premiums for their Fortified Life offering. Even families who ultimately decide not to enroll in Fortified Life leave with a concrete and valuable LTC plan, enhancing WHC’s reputation as a trusted advisor.

Looking Ahead

WHC sees Waterlily as an essential tool for continuing to enhance the LTC planning experience for families:

• More Targeted Advice: As adoption grows, data-driven insights will become even more precise, helping future families make informed decisions more easily.

• Enhanced Family Confidence: With clear timelines and care predictions, families approach LTC planning proactively rather than reactively.

• Stronger Community Relationships: WHC further solidifies its commitment to holistic, personalized care by integrating Waterlily’s insightful, consumer-centered approach.

Conclusion

By embracing Waterlily, Western Home Communities has transformed LTC planning from an abstract challenge into a clear, reassuring experience. Families now confidently navigate decisions, knowing their future care plans are personalized, practical, and grounded in trustworthy insights. At the same time, the WHC team has experienced greater ease in guiding meaningful conversations, improving both consumer satisfaction and organizational effectiveness.