Educate yourself

Early Detection and Management of Dementia Cuts Healthcare Costs

With the aging of America, the number of Alzheimer’s cases is growing rapidly.
Early detection, diagnosis and care management for people newly diagnosed with cognitive impairment and dementia reduces outpatient costs by almost 30 percent, according to new research reported at the recent Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, dementia is a common, costly, and often unrecognized problem in older adults. In order to provide better medical care and outcomes for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias, the conditions must first be detected and diagnosed, and needed care management must be provided.

"Research suggests that when the family of someone who is officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's becomes educated about the disease, and they work together with medical professionals on a care plan, it can reduce the patient's difficult behavioral and psychiatric symptoms." said Maria Carrillo, PhD, Senior Director of Medical and Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer's Association. "It can also lower the family caregiver's anxiety, depression and stress."
Alzheimer's care management helps people with the disease and their families to find resources, make decisions, and manage stress. For example, a care manager can help families with decisions about in-home care services, or long-term care whether at home or in a nursing facility.

The study, titled the Dementia Demonstration Project (DDP), was an interdisciplinary effort led by the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinic Center at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center. Seven VA Medical Centers took part in the project, which was created to increase detection and diagnosis of dementia in primary care and provide information, support, and care coordination for veterans with newly diagnosed dementia.

In the DDP clinics, once a patient was diagnosed with cognitive impairment, the dementia care team met with the patient and family to review the results, discuss the diagnosis, and outline treatment recommendations.

Interventions were targeted to the severity of dementia and the specific needs of the patient and their caregivers. Informational material, assistance in identifying needed services, and direct support and training from team members was provided, as needed.

"The most important goals of the program were making sure that all family members understood the disease and were on the same page, that patients remained physically active and socially engaged, and that caregivers had the support they needed," said J. Riley McCarten, MD, the project's lead physician.Healthcare costs data showed that veterans diagnosed in the DDP clinics saw their average outpatient healthcare costs decline by about 29 percent (-$1,991) in the year after diagnosis of cognitive impairment compared with the year before diagnosis. "We see in this study's findings that early diagnosis and case management in dementia may also significantly lower healthcare costs. This could have a reverberating positive impact throughout the entire healthcare system," Carrillo said.

Source: The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. Visit www.alz.org or call 800-272-3900

Right at Home is a national organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for those we serve. We fulfill that mission through a dedicated network of locally owned, franchised providers of in-home care and assistance services.