Arizona State Alzheimer’s Plan Overview
The Arizona Alzheimer’s Task Force was established in 2011 as a collaboration of the Governor's Office on Aging, the Arizona Department of Economic Security Division of Aging and Adult Services, the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium, and the Alzheimer's Association Desert Southwest Chapter. The goal was to bring together a wide range of public and private stakeholders to develop a plan to address the growing number of Arizonans with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2015, the Task Force published the Arizona Alzheimer’s State Plan: A Framework for Action, which was developed through the cooperation of more than 100 community members.
Arizona 2025 Policy Priorities
Updating the ALTCS Functional Eligibility Criteria
Eleven percent of Arizona residents aged 65 or over are living with Alzheimer’s. Timely and accurate cognitive testing is the first step in ensuring that individuals living with Alzheimer’s can access Medicaid funding for placement in long-term facilities to receive appropriate care and services. The Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) is an Arizona Medicaid program that is designed to help fixed income seniors afford the care that they need. Presently, Arizona’s ATLCS functional eligibility criteria does not explicitly assess issues related to supervision and monitoring of behavioral systems or decision-making that results from impaired judgment, resulting in application denials and delays in access to care and support. The Alzheimer’s Association is urging state lawmakers to allocate $2 million to hire more ALTCS Assessors and pass legislation requiring that accessors receive dementia-specific training, conduct most interviews in person, and update the functional eligibility criteria to properly weigh cognitive impairment issues, particularly with regard to prompting, monitoring, and supervision of daily activities.
Ensuring the Enforceability of Memory Care Certification Standards
Individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other dementia make up a significant portion of those using long-term services. Last year, Arizona passed a law requiring the Department of Health Services to craft administrative rules for evidence-based residential licensure requirements for Memory Care certification, including staff education standards. The Alzheimer’s Association is calling on the Department of Health Services to ensure the new rules are enforceable, evidence-based, person-centered, and include skills and competencies that will equip workers to care for those with a significant cognitive impairment appropriately.
Arizona State Advocacy Day
Join advocates from across the state on Monday, January 27, 2025 for State Advocacy Day! Advocates will come together and turn the Capitol purple as they share their stories, meet with legislators, and urge support for our dementia-specific policy priorities. Never advocated before? No problem! A “Know Before You Go” webinar will be held prior to State Advocacy Day. Don't forget to wear purple!
Sign Up to Learn About Advocacy Opportunities in Arizona
Find My Chapter
Together, we’re making an impact. Find an Alzheimer’s Association chapter in your community for more ways to engage.
151,500
people living with Alzheimer’s in Arizona
292,000
Arizonans are providing unpaid care
$414 Million
Medicaid cost of caring for people living with Alzheimer’s (2020)
163.5%
increase in Alzheimer’s deaths 2000-2021
18%
in hospice with a primary diagnosis of dementia
294.6%
increase of geriatricians in Arizona needed to meet the demand in 2050
Resources to Drive Change in Arizona
The following resources developed by AIM and the Alzheimer’s Association will help you learn more about the issues impacting people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, how Arizona policymakers are addressing these gaps, and how you can help drive change.