Federal Priorities
It’s time to act. Public policy decisions must provide the resources necessary to support programs that affect people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. Policymakers must enact public policies that provide better health and long-term coverage to ensure high-quality, cost-effective care for the millions of people who face this disease every day.
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Alzheimer’s Research Funding
Palliative and Hospice Care (PCHETA)
Nearly half of all people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are in hospice care at the time of their death. Less than half of surveyed nursing homes have some sort of palliative care program. For people with advanced dementia, such care — which focuses on managing and easing symptoms, reducing pain and stress, and increasing comfort — improves quality of life, controls costs, and enhances patient and family satisfaction. But, as the demand for such care grows with the aging population, more must be done to ensure an adequately trained workforce. The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act would increase palliative care and hospice training for health care professionals, launch a national campaign to inform patients and families about the benefits of palliative care, and enhance research on improving the delivery of palliative care.
Achievements
Here is what we have accomplished with your dedication and focus on the issues.
Health Outcomes, Planning and Education (HOPE)
“The 114th Congress saw the advancement of critical legislation to increase access to care planning and support services. The Alzheimer’s Association, AIM, and our advocates led the way on the HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act (which was designed to provide comprehensive care planning services following a dementia diagnosis) to provide Medicare coverage for care planning services for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairments. Because of our efforts, congressional cosponsorship numbers soared, and in November 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a decision to pay for cognitive and functional assessments and care planning. In 2017, for the first time, people living with Alzheimer’s will have access to care planning with a medical professional covered by Medicare.
A new Medicare billing code–known as G0505–now allows clinicians to be reimbursed for providing care planning to cognitively impaired individuals.”
Pain has an impact on behavior, function and quality of life for people living with dementia, but is one of the most mismanaged conditions. The challenges of understanding and treating acute and chronic pain for those with dementia are complex and often overlooked. Identifying and treating pain requires the ability to listen to what individuals are communicating through behaviors and body language. To treat pain for someone with dementia we must look beyond the words. This keynote offers the opportunity to explore strategies for identifying and managing pain including the use of standardized tools for assessment and monitoring along with the use of medications for individualizing comfort measures.
Melanie Bunn, GNP, MS, RN, is a Consulting Associate at the Duke University School of Nursing, Certified Trainer, Coach and Consultant for Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care, and has her own education consulting company, Bunn Consulting. She received her degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Master’s degree in Family Health Nursing from Clemson University and a Post-Master’s Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Certificate from Duke University. She has provided primary care to older people in a variety of settings including retirement homes, long term care nursing, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and in the home as a gerontological nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist and staff nurse. In 2014, Ms. Bunn was awarded the Dr. Ewald W. Busse Award by the NC Division of Aging and Adult Services Department of Health and Human Services for her contributions to improving the care of older adults with dementia and their families.
James Wessler
Paul S. Stuka
Barry Greene
Thomas A. Croswell