Resources for Health Care Providers: Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias

The Role of Health Care Providers in Dementia Care

Health care professionals are often the first points of contact for people with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia — including Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, or frontotemporal dementia — who can help provide care and support. Read more about the different types of dementia.

Several types of health care professionals may be involved with diagnosing and providing care to people with dementia. These include:

• Primary care doctors
• Neurologists, who specialize in disorders of the brain and nervous system
• Geriatricians, who specialize in the care of older adults
• Geriatric psychiatrists, who specialize in the mental and emotional health of older adults
• Neuropsychologists, who specialize in standardized assessment of cognition and behavior
• Clinical psychologists, social workers, and general psychiatrists, who specialize in understanding, diagnosing, and treating mental health and behavior disorders
• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, who specialize in improving patients’ ability to communicate and perform self-care activities
• Nurses
• Home health aides

These professionals may see patients at a health clinic, hospital, academic hospital, or long-term care facility.

Health care professionals can provide a variety of resources, including diagnostic evaluations, treatment plans, educational materials, referrals to specialists, and more. Providing resources that focus on dementia and dementia care is critical for improving health care, quality of life, and overall outcomes for people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, as well as for their families and other care providers.

How the Federal Government Is Supporting Health Care Professionals

The federal government is investing in evidence-based research to find new ways to optimize dementia care quality and efficiency, which is one of the five goals in the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease. Efforts include:

• Dementia-Specific Guidelines and Curricula. Completed in 2018, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) created and disseminated a repository of dementia curricula and practice guidelines for providers across the care continuum, including physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, other health care professionals, direct care workers, and informal caregivers.
• VA Geriatric Scholars Toolkit. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) supports the VA Geriatrics Scholars Program to help health care providers achieve a deeper understanding of conditions that affect older veterans. The Geriatric Scholars Toolkit covers 12 clinical topics in geriatrics, including dementia, chronic diseases, and rural health.
• Improvements in the Home Care Workforce (PDF, 88K). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took steps in 2016 to outline strategies states can use to strengthen the Medicaid home care workforce, an important element of dementia care. Through these efforts, CMS and the states have implemented regulations requiring greater community integration, adopted improvements to managed long-term care, including telehealth and telecommunications when necessary, and solicited public comment on how best to measure people’s access to home and community-based services.
• National Research Summits on Care and Services for Persons with Dementia, Family Members, and Caregivers. These summits take place every three years with a focus on research that is needed to improve quality of care and outcomes across care settings. Agenda topics cover several themes, including the organization, financing, and delivery of high-quality medical care across the continuum of health care settings. Participants address strategies for ensuring the provision of high-quality care among racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse individuals. Summit outcomes help shape future dementia care research priorities and initiatives.
• The Consortium for Detecting Cognitive Impairment, Including Dementia (DetectCID). DetectCID is a collaborative network of researchers who are testing cognitive assessment tools for use in clinical settings, with an emphasis on addressing barriers to detecting cognitive impairment associated with health disparities. The goal is to identify scientifically validated paradigms and tools that health care providers can use to easily and effectively detect cognitive impairment, including dementia, in everyday clinical settings and among racially and ethnically diverse individuals.

Information and tools are available that can help you improve care for people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.