Takeaways from The Hill’s Recent Event: Early Detection Is the Missing Link in Alzheimer’s Care

‍By John Czwartacki

For the first time, simple blood tests can be used to detect Alzheimer’s disease in patients years before symptoms disrupt daily life. What before was a long, uncertain path to diagnosis can now begin with something far more accessible to most Americans.

That kind of progress is an innovative turning point that should help patients.

Instead, it’s running directly into a familiar barrier: a healthcare system that is slow to adapt and often out of sync with the innovation needed to support millions of lives.

A panel of lawmakers, experts (including my friend and health policy expert Joe Grogan), and doctors spoke at a recent event hosted by The Hill on Alzheimer’s detection. The conversation reflected both how quickly science is evolving and how slowly policy has followed.

Under the current system, Medicare coverage often lags far behind FDA approval. This is a major issue in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, where it has been proven that earlier intervention leads to better outcomes. As Grogan explained, this gap between innovation and coverage has become a barrier.

Right now, the blood-based tests are typically not covered by senior health plans for screening, even though they are easier and cheaper than PET scan alternatives. This is exceptionally short-sighted, given that early detection would create substantial cost savings for both Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act gives Congress a clear plan to address this issue by expanding Medicare coverage for routine Alzheimer's screenings. By increasing access to Alzheimer's disease detection tools, this law will help patients benefit from early identification instead of being forced to wait as their health deteriorates.  

Another barrier to new innovations is a Medicare policy called coverage with evidence development (CED). As Grogan highlighted, CED was designed to expand access while additional data was collected; instead, it has become a bottleneck in healthcare.

Lawmakers during The Hill’s event highlighted growing bipartisan momentum behind efforts to reform these policies. They emphasized that early detection must underpin any national Alzheimer’s strategy. This must begin with removing government barriers to screening mechanisms.

As panelists emphasized, the healthcare system is fundamentally backwards. In cancer care, early disease identification has transformed outcomes. The same principle applies to Alzheimer’s, and now, for the first time, the tools exist to make it attainable for the masses. The question is whether our policies will allow patients to benefit from these advancements.

There are promising signs in this direction, as lawmakers at the event also discussed efforts to develop a national blueprint for addressing Alzheimer’s disease. Legislative action is only the beginning, but it’s a vital first step.

If there was one unifying message from the event, it was that early detection should be the foundation of any serious Alzheimer’s strategy. The innovation is here. Congress now can ensure patients can use it, and for millions of Americans, that opportunity cannot come soon enough.