Washington, D.C. – The House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously this week to advance a bipartisan bill to improve early assessment and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. The Concentrating on High Value Alzheimer’s Needs to Get to an End (CHANGE) Act sponsored by Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL), Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Doris Matsui (D-CA), was included as part of the broader American Medical Innovation and Investment Act.
“Alzheimer’s affects millions of Americans each day, and the search for a cure must be relentless. Our bipartisan, bicameral bill provides help to patients and clinicians through expanded early detection support and improved data collection,” said Congressman LaHood. “The CHANGE Act will strengthen existing tools within Medicare to help streamline and broaden the ability for earlier diagnosis of dementia. I applaud my Ways and Means colleagues for advancing this bill as we work to find ways to support patients, as well as their families and caregivers.”
“After seeing both my parents struggle with Alzheimer’s, I’m encouraged to see this bipartisan legislation move one step closer to becoming law,” said Congresswoman Sánchez. “Countless families nationwide are experiencing the devastating toll of Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia. This bill would provide them with crucial assistance. As millions more Americans are expected to be diagnosed in the coming decades, we have no time to waste.”
“There has never been a more important time to pass the CHANGE Act than now. New treatment options are most effective for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. By requiring CMS to develop a uniform and reliable detection tool, and incentivizing healthcare providers to put an emphasis on early detection, the CHANGE Act could open the door for millions of Alzheimer’s patients to access medications that slow the progression of the disease and preserve their quality of life for a longer period of time,” said George Vradenburg, chair and co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s. "We applaud the Committee for marking up this important item."
The CHANGE Act would support, incentivize, and authorize high-value Alzheimer’s patient care, and support caregivers and research initiatives to improve prevention and treatment for the disease. Specifically, it would require physicians to use any of the National Institute on Aging’s cognitive impairment detection tools to help detect, refer and diagnose Alzheimer’s and related dementias in their earliest stages.
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