Primary Care Physicians Are Key to Improving Dementia Care and Access
A comprehensive research report delves into the challenges and geographical variations in the healthcare system’s capacity to detect, diagnose, and treat early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Highlighting a breakthrough in slowing AD progression through FDA-approved DMTs, the report underscores the critical need for early detection and the substantial variability in healthcare capacity across the United States. Empowering primary care practitioners to diagnose and evaluate patients could significantly reduce wait times and increase the number of people treated. Furthermore, blood-based biomarker tests could alleviate specialist caseloads, emphasizing the need for a multifaceted strategy to communicate the value of early detection and treatment, integrate primary care into the diagnosis pathway, and address capacity disparities to ensure the widespread delivery of AD-modifying therapies.
Primary Care Physicians Are Key to Improving Dementia Care and Access (Liu, Rand, 2/1).
