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Improving Alzheimer’s care in the U.S.

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that often leads to a serious emotional, physical, and financial burden on people living with the disease and their primary caregivers, who are usually family members.

An estimated 5.8 million Americans aged 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer’s, which is now the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.1

Given the complexity of the disease, patients and their caregivers often require multidisciplinary care that may involve physicians, nurses, social workers, and community-based service providers. The Merck Foundation is supporting programs to help effectively coordinate care and provide  needed social support for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.

Enhancing support for Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers

To improve the health and well-being of people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, the Merck Foundation committed $3 million to support evidence-based programs that are working to: 

  • Increase access to needed care and support for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers through better care coordination
  • Foster collaboration across the health and social service sectors to address the medical and social needs of patients and their caregivers
  • Improve patient and caregiver outcomes, including quality of life

Program partners

Alzheimer’s Association, Massachusetts/New Hampshire chapter

The Merck Foundation provided a $1.5 million, four-year (2018–2021) grant to the Alzheimer’s Association, Massachusetts/New Hampshire chapter to support the expansion of its Dementia Care Coordination program in Massachusetts and replicate it in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

HealthPartners Center for Memory and Aging

The Merck Foundation provided a $1.5 million, four-year (2018–2021) grant to support HealthPartners Center for Memory and Aging and its partner, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to increase access to Alzheimer’s care in rural Minnesota through UCSF’s Care Ecosystem program.

1 Alzheimer’s Association. 2020 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures#:~:text=More%20than%205%20million%20Americans%20of%20all%20ages%20have%20Alzheimer’s,10%25)%20has%20Alzheimer’s%20dementia