This November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, when patients and physicians raise awareness and show support for the millions of people affected by Alzheimer’s Disease. More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, millions more are caregivers and family members who support them, and small businesses across our state rely on healthy communities.
The health of Floridians is directly tied to the strength of our economy and the future of our communities. Alzheimer’s disease threatens both.
Florida is home to one of the largest elderly populations in the country, with more than 4.6 million residents over the age of 65. This makes our state ground zero in the fight against this fatal disease. Alzheimer’s is not only devastating to our aging population as a whole, but it disproportionately impacts Hispanic families, a population that makes up more than a fourth of our state’s population. Studies show Hispanics are 1.5 times as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s as non-Hispanic white individuals, creating an even greater imperative for us to demand change.
With breakthroughs in medical research, we now have the tools to give Floridians a fighting chance against this disease, but Medicare policies are making it difficult for patients to take advantage of them.
Alzheimer’s is not simply memory loss. It robs people of their independence, strains families, and results in premature death. One of the most challenging aspects is that diagnosis often comes late, when treatment options are limited and families are already overwhelmed.
Thanks to decades of research, we now have FDA-approved treatments and rapidly advancing diagnostic tools. Just this summer, a study confirmed that lifestyle changes (exercise, nutrition, cognitive training, and social engagement) protect brain health and improve cognition in older adults at-risk for dementia, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or genetic risk.
These interventions can now be considered alongside innovative FDA-approved blood-based tests that make early, accurate, and affordable diagnosis possible. With blood tests, we even have the capability to detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear, opening even more opportunities to intervene.
Julio Fuentes is the president and CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. (courtesy, Julio Fuentes)
Yet innovation is only half the battle. Without broad access, these breakthroughs won’t reach the people who need them most. Medicare’s outdated “coverage with evidence development” (CED) policy limits access to approved treatments by requiring patients to enroll in clinical registries to gain coverage.
These bureaucratic barriers are not in place for other diseases, like cancer or heart disease, yet they remain the status quo for Alzheimer’s. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can revise this policy and others to create a more proactive approach to a disease that affects so many Americans personally and draws down our precious health-care resources.
The costs of inaction are too high. When someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, their family members are forced to leave jobs to care for loved ones, businesses lose talented employees, and our healthcare system shoulders overwhelming costs. The earlier we detect and treat this disease, the better the outcomes for patients, caregivers and our economy.
As a business leader, I know progress requires investment and foresight. As a Floridian, I know the stakes could not be higher. And as a leader in the Hispanic community, I know too many Hispanic Floridians are carrying this heavy burden already. We cannot afford to wait until conditions worsen. The time to act is now.
In recognition of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, CMS should review and revise its CED policies for Alzheimer’s disease therapies to clear the path for early detection and treatment. Florida families depend on it.
Julio Fuentes is President of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 604,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in Florida that contribute more than $90 billion to our state economy annually.
