Abstract
Background/Aims The current estimated prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in the US is over 5 million and projected to increase to over 15 million by 2050. The already overwhelming personal and economic burden this represents for patients, families, and health care providers is only expected to increase as well. Essentia Health recognizes the urgent need to standardize dementia diagnosis and management system-wide to enhance earlier detection of cognitive issues that will lead to better management of dementia and comorbid conditions to reduce the burden of this devastating disease and improve quality of life for patients and their caregivers.
Methods The Division of Primary Care at Essentia Health is developing a standardized approach to dementia diagnosis and care to be implemented system-wide. An advisory workgroup consisting of physicians and NPs from primary care (family practice, internal medicine), specialty care (elder care, neurology, neuropsychology), and community partners (Alzheimer’s Association, Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging, Family Memory Care Consultants) continues to meet monthly to plan integration and implementation. We have initiated a pilot study in two of our primary care clinics to implement and evaluate this approach and to inform further development.
Results Two separate smartsets have been created–the EH Memory Screen/MiniCog Smartset (MCOG Set) and the Memory Screen/MOCA SmartSet (MOCA Set). The first is intended to guide cognitive screening at the annual wellness visit (AWV) and the other to serve as a guide for a follow-up examination if indicated from the MOCA Set.
Conclusions We plan to present both quantitative and qualitative information based on our experience through the first few months of implementation. This will include a thorough evaluation of the work plan as well as lessons learned to inform further implementation at EH and other systems.
