On behalf of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Eric J. Hall, president and chief executive officer thanked the United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NE), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) for including ‘detection of any cognitive impairment’ as a component of the new annual wellness visit for Medicare beneficiaries in ‘The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.’

The provision for ‘detection of any cognitive impairment’ is included in a section of the Senate bill that would give Medicare beneficiaries access to an annual wellness visit, including a comprehensive health risk assessment to identify chronic diseases, injury risks, modifiable risk factors, and urgent health needs.

Senate health reform language comes on the heels of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s annual National Memory Screening Day. More than 2,200 sites nationwide offered free confidential memory screenings to an estimated 54,000 participants, as well as follow-up resources and educational materials about dementia and successful aging.

According to Hall, “A memory screening can serve as a routine, cost-worthy evaluation for primary care physicians to promote early detection of cognitive impairment. A memory screening is a simple and safe evaluation tool that assesses memory and other intellectual functions. The results do not represent a diagnosis, but individuals with below-normal scores or who still have concerns are strongly encouraged to follow up for a full medical examination. Validated memory screening instruments are shown to demonstrate 80 to 90 percent or higher accuracy in reviewed studies–similar to other established screening tests such as mammography and Pap smear.

“It is widely recognized that physicians and other health care professionals currently do not suspect dementia often enough. It is unacceptable to leave the disease undetected to the extent it is now when there are safe tools available that can lead to an increase in earlier discovery. We can do better and we applaud Majority Leader Reid, Chairman Baucus and Senator Carper for showing us that it can and should be done.”

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