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Aging

Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias

Award Winners for Best Practices in Alzheimer’s and other Dementias Care:

Read our Reports and Recommendations

(Adopted March 2016)

Rates of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are expected to increase greatly over the next decades. Many practices lack guidelines on how to increase quality of diagnosing, treating, and supporting people with dementia and their family members and other caregivers. This workgroup met from January to November 2017, aligned with and built off the Alzheimer’s State Plan, and organized recommendations with the following focus areas:

  • Early detection and appropriate diagnosis
  • Ongoing care and support or management including for family members and caregivers
  • Advance care planning and palliative care
  • Assessment and planning for need for increased support and/or higher levels of care
  • Preparing for potential hospitalization
  • Screening for delirium risk during hospitalization for all patients over 65

Supporting Materials

Letter from the Health Care Authority Accepting the Total Knee and Total Hip Replacement Bundle and Warranty and the Opioid Use Disorder Treatment and Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias Report and Recommendations
Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias Final Charter

Workgroup Members

Member Title Organization
Kristoffer Rhoads, PhD (Chair) Primary Neuropsychologist, Memory and Brain Wellness Center University of Washington Medicine
Kimiko Domoto-Reilly, MD Alzheimer’s Research Center University of Washington Medicine
Richard Furlong, MD Primary Care Virginia Mason Medical Center
Barak Gaster, MD Professor of Medicine University of Washington Medicine
Kelly Green, LICSW Social Worker Evergreen Health
Debbie Hunter Family Caregiver
Nancy Isenberg, MD, MPH, FAAN Neurologist, Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology, Center for Healthy Aging & Memory Virginia Mason Medical Center
Arlene Johnson Family Caregiver
Kerry Jurges, MD Primary Care Confluence Health
Eric Larson, MD, MPH Vice President for Research and Health Care Innovation Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington
Todd Larson Family Caregiver
Myriam Marquez Patient Advocate
Shirley Newell, MD Chief Medical Officer Aegis Living
Darrell Owens, DNP, ARNP Clinic Chief, Director University of Washington Outpatient Primary, Palliative and Supportive Care Program
Tatiana Sadak, PhD, ARNP Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Associate Professor of Geriatric Mental Health, University of Washington School of Nursing
Bruce Smith, MD Medical Director Regence Blue Shield

End-of-Life Care

Award Winners for Best Practices in End-of-life Planning:

Read our Report and Recommendations 

(Adopted November 2014)

Patients often do not receive the care they and their families want at the end of life. This workgroup met from January to November 2014 to develop the following focus areas, increasing:

  • Awareness of advance care planning, advance directives, and POLST in Washington State
  • The number of people who participate in advance care planning in the clinical and community settings
  • The number of people who record their wishes and goals for end-of-life care using documents that: accurately represent their values; are easily understandable by all readers including family members, friends, and health care providers; and can be acted upon in the health care setting
  • The accessibility of completed advance directives and POLST for health systems and providers
  • The likelihood that a patient’s end-of-life care choices are honored

Supporting Materials

Letter from Health Care Authority Accepting End-of-Life Care Report and Recommendations
End-of-Life
Care Public Comment Summary
Workgroup Charter
The Washington State Medical Association’s Know Your Choices Campaign

Workgroup Members

Member Title Organization
Anna Ahrens Director of Patient and Family Support Services MultiCare Health System
J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH Professor of Medicine, Director University of Washington Palliative Care Center of Excellence
Trudy James Chaplain Heartwork
Bree Johnston, MD Medical Director, Palliative Care PeaceHealth
Abbi Kaplan Principal Abbi Kaplan Company
Timothy Melhorn, MD Internist Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital (YVMH) and the Memorial Foundation
Joanne Roberts, MD Chief Medical Officer, NMR Administration Providence Everett Regional Medical Center
John Robinson, MD (Chair) Chief Medical Officer First Choice Health
Bruce Smith, MD (Vice Chair) Associate Medical Director, Strategy Deployment Group Health Physicians
Richard Stuart, DSW Clinical Professor Emeritus, Psychiatry University of Washington
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