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State officials present 2024 dementia report, highlight Georgia Memory Net and caregiver burdens
Summary
The Division of Aging Services and the GARD advisory council presented Georgia's first 2024 dementia report, showing roughly 188,000 Georgians over 65 with Alzheimer's, high caregiver burden and geographic disparities; officials noted investments in Georgia Memory Net, dementia care specialists and telehealth diagnostic sites.
State officials presented a new 2024 dementia report to the House Public and Community Health Committee, summarizing prevalence, costs, workforce gaps and state programs aimed at earlier diagnosis and caregiver support.
Mary Lee Boatwright Quinn, assistant deputy commissioner at the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services, and Nancy Petrie, director of government affairs for the Alzheimer's Association and chair of the GARD advisory council, delivered the report and fielded questions from committee members. "Forty percent of cases are associated with modifiable risk factors," Petrie said, highlighting obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, insufficient sleep and lack of exercise as intervention points.
The report — prepared in partnership with the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute — estimates about 188,000 Georgians age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's; roughly 74,000 Medicare beneficiaries have a formal diagnosis. The presenters said mortality from Alzheimer’s is the seventh leading cause of death nationally and emphasized that prevalence and comorbid conditions are higher in parts of southern Georgia and in some rural counties.
Officials described the Georgia Memory Net (GMN) diagnostic protocol, a statewide effort that uses clinic and telehealth sites to expand access to specialist evaluation. Mary Lee Boatwright Quinn said the state has invested in a dementia team at the Division of Aging Services and the new dementia care specialist program, with dementia care specialists placed in each area agency on aging. The presenters said those investments aim to increase early and accurate diagnosis and to strengthen caregiver support across the state.
Committee members asked about research, workforce pipelines, and access in South Georgia. Nancy Petrie said the Association and the state are expanding pilot programs and grant-funded initiatives targeted to Southwest Georgia and other underserved areas. The presenters also noted workforce shortages for neurologists and geriatric specialists outside metro Atlanta and pointed to GMN telehealth sites as one mitigation strategy.
On caregiver burden, the presenters cited an Alzheimer's Association estimate of about 375,000 unpaid caregivers in Georgia providing roughly 755,000,000 hours of unpaid care annually; in 2020 Medicaid costs for Georgians with Alzheimer's were cited at about $1.265 billion, which presenters estimated had increased since 2020.
The presenters encouraged members to review the full report and an executive summary placed in members' folders; they said the report will be updated every four years and that progress updates to the GARD state plan will be provided in between.
"We are already doing some things to intervene here in our state," Boatwright Quinn said, noting Older Americans Act–funded programs and targeted efforts through area agencies on aging.
