State Government Alzheimer's Disease Plans

State government Alzheimer’s disease plans create the infrastructure and accountability necessary to build dementia-capable programs for the growing number of people with the disease. A comprehensive state strategy to address needs of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders provides a mechanism to consider collectively a range of issues including: dementia capable support services for people at all stages of the disease; quantifying the number of individuals with Alzheimer’s in a state; quality of long-term care; Medicaid coverage of long-term care for those who cannot afford it; availability of diagnostic services; and safety of persons who wander.

Plan creation involves state agencies; legislators; residential and community care providers; professional and family caregivers; and persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Using this approach, state governments will address the Alzheimer’s epidemic with a thoughtful, integrated, and cost-effective approach. 

State Government Alzheimer's Disease Plans
 Model State Plan Task Force Legislation (4 pages)
 Sample Press Release - Legislative Sponsor (1 page)

Quality Long-term Care

Long-term care is a major area of concern to anyone facing Alzheimer’s disease. States have the authority to regulate their long-term care systems. It only makes sense that if the majority of persons receiving long-term care have dementia, long-term care services ought to be capable of appropriately serving persons with dementia. The most prominent trends in quality dementia care policy are:

• Making assisted living dementia capable
• Mandatory dementia training for staff
• Disclosure of dementia care service options
• Enforcement of existing dementia care regulations

 Model Facility Special Care Unit Disclosure Legislation (2 pages)

Uniform Adult Guardianship Jurisdiction

Due to the impact of dementia on a person’s ability to make decisions and in the absence of other advanced directives, people with Alzheimer’s disease may need the assistance of a guardian. Jurisdiction in adult guardianship cases often becomes complicated because multiple states, each with its own adult guardianship system, may have an interest in the case. Consequently, it may be unclear which state court has jurisdiction to decide the guardianship issue.

In response to this common jurisdictional confusion, the Uniform Law Commission developed the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA). The legislation establishes a uniform set of rules for determining jurisdiction, and thus, simplifies the process for determining jurisdiction between multiple states in adult guardianship cases. It also establishes a framework that allows state court judges in different states to communicate with each other about adult guardianship cases.

 UAGPPJA Case Statement (4 pages)

 Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act
(20 pages)

Public Health Surveillance

As Alzheimer’s disease emerges as one of the major public health issues of the 21st century, state-level data collection on Alzheimer’s continues to lag in comparison to other leading causes of death such as heart disease and diabetes. Fortunately, recent advancements now provide states with an opportunity to improve Alzheimer data collection at the state level by using their existing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

 Surveillance Fact Sheet (2 pages)