dementia

Changing The Way Doctors Talk To Patients About Dementia

Too often, physicians are reluctant to give patients a diagnosis of dementia, even when cognitive testing shows memory loss or other symptoms. And when doctors do provide a candid diagnosis, they may send their patients and their families home without any guidance for what to do next. No practical advice. No sense of hope. And too often, not even any [...]

By |2024-02-13T16:04:34-05:00February 12th, 2024|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Medicare Will Pay For A Common Alzheimer’s Test But It May Not Be Reliable

Last year, Medicare decided it would routinely pay for sophisticated imaging tests for Alzheimer’s disease called amyloid-PET (positron emission tomography) scans. The move will make it easier for people with early-stage memory loss to get tested and potentially become eligible for a class of new drugs that aim to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. However, many neuroscientists and imaging experts [...]

By |2024-01-09T15:09:53-05:00January 9th, 2024|dementia|0 Comments

NIH Steps Back From Project Developing Alzheimer’s Diagnostic Standards

The National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Aging has dropped its name from a controversial joint project with Alzheimer’s Association to revise clinical research standards, which it calls criteria, for determining who has Alzheimer’s disease. The relationship was unusual. NIH rarely sponsors projects to develop such standards, and almost never partners with advocacy groups. Typically, such guidance is written by expert panels organized [...]

By |2023-10-31T17:27:50-04:00October 31st, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

For The First Time, Traditional Medicare Will Pay To Support Family Caregivers

The federal agency that operates Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is finally recognizing what families have known for, well, thousands of years:  Family members are the bedrock of the system of care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. And the agency is taking some important steps to help them. Some proposals will provide [...]

By |2023-08-23T11:35:50-04:00August 23rd, 2023|family caregivers, Medicare, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Should People With No Symptoms Get A Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease?

The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association have proposed revised clinical guidelines that would designate seven major stages of the brain disease. The first two would be for people who have no symptoms but may be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s. These technical guidelines, which would update a 2018 version, could have enormous, and conflicting, implications for drug [...]

By |2023-08-08T10:47:15-04:00August 8th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

The Quiet Struggles Of Those Living Alone With Memory Loss

Living with memory loss and other cognitive limitations is hard. But when you can’t remember or can’t process information well enough to make important decisions, and you have no one by your side to support you, life can be extra tough. Researchers at the University of California San Francisco ((UCSF) estimate that about 4.3 million older adults with cognitive impairment [...]

By |2023-07-18T10:37:57-04:00July 18th, 2023|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

FDA Has Approved The Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi. What You Need To Know

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted final approval to the anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanamab, marked as Leqembi by drugmakers Eisai and Biogen. Here is what you need to know: What does it do? In a formal phase 3 trial, Leqembi was shown to slow the progression of memory loss and cognitive impairment in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease by [...]

By |2023-07-06T17:25:34-04:00July 6th, 2023|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Why Are Care Delivery Models For People With Dementia Developing So Slowly?

Enormous attention is being given to controversial drugs aimed at slowing the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, a very different set of clinical innovations holds the promise of helping far more people living with dementia and their families in more immediate—and perhaps more effective—ways. These care delivery models are aimed at breaking down the often-impenetrable barriers between health care [...]

By |2023-06-27T10:36:59-04:00June 27th, 2023|dementia, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The War Over Whether Medicare Should Pay For New Anti-Alzheimer’s Drugs

The powerful Alzheimer’s Disease lobby is fighting a multi-billion-dollar battle on two fronts. It is quietly trying to limit restrictions the Food and Drug Administration puts on the use of new drugs aimed at slowing the progression of the brain disease. And it is publicly pressing Medicare to pay for the widespread use of the monoclonal antibodies FDA already has [...]

By |2023-05-17T15:27:50-04:00May 17th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments

Experts Raise New Questions About The Safety Of Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi

Medical experts are raising new questions about the safety of the anti-Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab, which is marketed as Leqembi by drugmakers Biogen and Eisai. One study, which looked in detail at the death of a participant in a Leqembi research trial, suggests that people with a condition that affects as many as half of those with Alzheimer’s Disease may be [...]

By |2023-04-25T10:22:43-04:00April 25th, 2023|dementia|0 Comments