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Alzheimer’s Association urges Arkansas to fund early‑detection outreach, Medicaid billing and respite expansion
Summary
The Alzheimer’s Association updated the Senate Children and Youth Committee on Arkansas’s Alzheimer’s state plan, highlighted gaps in diagnostics and caregiver supports, and asked lawmakers for $300,000 for public‑awareness campaigns plus $200,000 to expand a dementia caregiver respite grant program, and for Medicaid to adopt reimbursement for cognitive‑screening care planning.
David Cook, director of government affairs and public policy at the Alzheimer’s Association, told the Senate Children and Youth Committee that Arkansas has made legislative progress on dementia but still faces gaps in diagnosis, treatment access and supports for family caregivers.
Cook said Arkansas lacks local access to the amyloid PET tracer used in one biomarker test, so physicians must refer patients to other states for amyloid PET imaging or rely on spinal‑fluid tests. He emphasized the importance of early detection now that anti‑amyloid treatments have begun arriving: “For the first time in 20 years, we do have a viable treatment that’s out on the market,” Cook said, adding that another drug could be approved soon.
Why it matters: Treatments shown to affect amyloid plaque are most effective in early disease stages,…
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