Public Health & Commuity Impact

Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month

As Alzheimer’s affects millions of individuals and families, understanding its impact is essential to strengthening the healthcare systems and programs that support them.

June 11, 2024

4 minutes

Key Takeaways

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that there are currently more than 55 million people around the world who are living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s is a brain disease caused by damage to the neurons or nerve cells in the brain, and these neurons are fundamental to all aspects of our behavior.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that can eventually make everyday activities and independent living increasingly difficult.
As care needs become more intensive, caregivers and families often face significant challenges navigating a complex health care system and coordinating services.
Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) and waiver programs can play an important role in helping individuals with Alzheimer’s remain safely in their homes and communities while supporting their caregivers.

Intensive Care Needed

Alongside increasingly pronounced cognitive declines, these developments mean that the individual may eventually need daily 24-hour care. As the disease progresses, activities of daily living – basic self-care functions such as eating, toileting, and showering – become increasingly difficult or impossible, which …that means a caregiver burden that persistently grows heavier overtime.

While the patients can be overwhelmed by immersion in their symptoms, their closest caregivers, friends and family, also face numerous challenges in trying to navigate the confusing matrix of health care providers, each addressing discrete dimensions of their loved one’s ongoing treatment.

Home and Community-based Services and Waiver Programs

Balancing the needs of the Alzheimer’s patient against those of their caregivers, all while improving outcomes and durations at home, is no simple mandate. Because of the chronic and progressive nature of Alzheimer’s, ongoing care is likely to be expensive and lengthy.

Many Alzheimer’s patients go to nursing homes, and Medicare will only provide home health care services for specific medical illnesses for those who are homebound or need skilled nursing care. Put another way, Alzheimer’s patients may need more care than Medicare provides.

However, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), the non-partisan legislative agency that provides policy and data analyses and makes recommendations to federal agencies, says that HCBS are designed to allow people receiving long-term services and supports to live longer in their homes and communities.

Fortunately, all states have HCBS waiver programs, which provides more services than are available through Medicare alone. As MACPAC says, “Section 1915(c) waivers and §1115 demonstrations are some of the most common mechanisms through which states cover HCBS.”

However, Medicaid limits the number of people who can receive HCBS, and it is critical that state agencies get the guidance they need so they can help some of their most fragile citizens. And these regulations are detailed and complex, and states need a business partner with experience and expertise, one that is fluent in the language of these programs and well-versed in every requirement.

How Myers & Stauffer Can Help

Helping state agencies qualify for waivers, implement new programs, and fine tune existing ones is critical. And it’s something we’ve been doing for decades.

Established in 1977, Myers & Stauffer is a nationally based consulting and certified public accounting (CPA) firm. For nearly 50 years, we have worked exclusively with local, state, and federal government health and human-services agencies to help them accomplish their most critical goals for the nation’s most vulnerable people.

Over the years, we’ve done our homework and conducted detailed research on dimensions of HCBS programs that helps guide our processes, inform our approach, and improve outcomes for our clients and those they serve.

In fact, we are supporting numerous states with waiver renewals, rate setting, cost information, provider surveys, stakeholder engagement, and technical assistance and guidance on regulatory and legislative compliance issues. We are ready to put this skill and experience to work for you.