Montana State Alzheimer’s Plan Overview 

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In June 2014, the Montana Alzheimer's Disease/Dementia Work Group was established as a grassroots collaboration with grant funding provided by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI): Improving the Lives of Alzheimers Patients and Their Caregivers: A Patient-Centered Statewide Approach. The Work Group’s membership includes private sector stakeholders and state officials representing the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, who convene regularly to improve care and support for Montanans living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia, their families, and caregivers. In December 2016 the Work Group published Montanas Alzheimers and Dementia State Plan: Addressing the Current and Future Needs of Individuals and Families with Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias.

Montana 2024 Policy Priorities

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Support Updates to the Montana State Alzheimer’s Plan 

Following discussions with multiple stakeholders to outline how the state can address Alzheimer’s and other dementia, Montana published a State Alzheimer’s Plan in 2016. With significant changes in care, support and treatment since then, a new plan is needed to ensure the state can take meaningful action to support people living with dementia and their family caregivers. The Alzheimer’s Association is calling on state leaders to utilize the federal BOLD Grant to collaborate with stakeholders to update the Plan.

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Establish Important Safeguards on Involuntary Commitment for Montanans Living with Alzheimer’s

Following tremendous advocacy, Montana lawmakers enacted House Bill 29 in 2023, which establishes important safeguards for Montanans living with dementia by ending involuntary commitment to state psychiatric institutions. The new law requires the Department of Public Health and Human Services to ensure individuals with a primary diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other dementia who have been involuntarily committed to the Montana State Hospital have first priority for admission into nursing homes. The state has appointed members to a Transition Review Committee, which is actively meeting to formulate a plan to ensure the availability of community-based services for people living with dementia at risk for involuntary commitment and enable those living with dementia in the Montana State Hospital to transition out into community settings. The Alzheimer’s Association calls on state officials to continue to prioritize this important work and ensure all Montanans living with dementia can remain in the most appropriate setting in the community.

Find My Chapter

Together, we’re making an impact. Find an Alzheimer’s Association chapter in your community for more ways to engage.

Contact Us

State Affairs Contact: Melanie Williams

Phone: 406.318.8242

Email: [email protected]

21,000

people living with Alzheimer’s in Montana

17,000

Montanans are providing unpaid care

$166 Million

Medicaid cost of caring for people living with Alzheimer’s (2020)

341

deaths from Alzheimer’s in 2021

11%

in hospice with a primary diagnosis of dementia

555.6%

increase of geriatricians in Montana needed to meet the demand in 2050