This email is sent to all Alzheimer’s Association staff, current and former national board, chapter board and Zenith members.

Today, I am proud to share with you that we have achieved another historic milestone in our cause. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its decision to pay for cognitive and functional assessment and care planning for persons with cognitive impairment, as we proposed and advocated for years through the HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act. The decision by CMS came following the rapidly growing support you and all of our advocates and staff have generated for the HOPE Act in Congress this year, with the inclusion of the provision in the funding bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Since I was first able to share the news of CMS’s proposal in July, the Alzheimer’s Association has been preparing and providing input on the final language to best support individuals living with cognitive impairment and their caregivers. We submitted four sets of comments on September 6 from the Alzheimer’s Association, from advocates and Ambassadors and other supporters, from the National Early-Stage Advisors, and a consensus statement from the expert work group we assembled for this specific purpose. We also created a survey for our constituents to provide their input to CMS and we received more than 3,000 responses from which we developed the advocate/Ambassador comments. Without all of your support this would not have been possible.

This new service means that those with Alzheimer’s, other dementia and cognitive impairment will now have access to cognitive and functional assessment and care planning with a professional. Following a diagnosis, care planning is crucial to improving outcomes and maintaining quality of life, for the diagnosed and their caregivers, as well as controlling costs and planning appropriately for the future.

The new service will go into effect in early 2017. The Alzheimer’s Association will continue to actively engage with CMS to support the successful implementation of this new service.

None of this would be possible without your tireless work as a key member of the Alzheimer’s Association along with all of our ambassadors and other advocates, and all of those who are part of the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement. Thank you for all of your contributions to making these advances possible and to bringing us another step closer to the care our constituents need — until we realize our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s.

Thanks again,

Harry

Alzheimer’s Association – The Brains Behind Saving Yours
Alzheimer’s Association
225 N. Michigan Ave., FL 17, Chicago, IL 60601
800.272.3900 | alz.org