South Dakota State Alzheimer’s Plan Overview
Established in 2015, the South Dakota Alzheimer’s Disease State Plan Work Group expanded in April 2017 to include a larger group of stakeholders charged with creating the state’s response to Alzheimer’s. The Work Group conducted a comprehensive needs assessment and hosted town halls across the state, which were supported by a South Dakota Community Foundation Community Innovation Grant. In June 2018, the South Dakota State Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias was published.
South Dakota 2024 Policy Priorities
Expand Access to Home and Community-Based Services
Home and community-based services (HCBS) services such as in-home personal care, adult day care, and PACE programs (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) allow people living with dementia to remain in their homes for as long as possible while providing family caregivers much needed support. Currently, 16,500 South Dakotans are living with dementia, and 27,000 caregivers are providing unpaid care. The Alzheimer’s Association is calling on state lawmakers to support legislation that would allow for the creation of PACE programming in South Dakota and to increase reimbursement rates for other HCBS providers, including dedicated increases for services provided to care for people living with dementia. These increases will support South Dakotans receiving dementia care at home and may reduce the number of people needing higher levels of care.
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16,500
people living with Alzheimer’s in South Dakota
27,000
South Dakotans are providing unpaid care
$182 Million
Medicaid cost of caring for people living with Alzheimer’s (2020)
396
deaths from Alzheimer’s in 2021
13%
in hospice with a primary diagnosis of dementia
193.3%
increase of geriatricians in South Dakota needed to meet the demand in 2050
Resources to Drive Change in South Dakota
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 South Dakota policymakers are addressing these gaps, and how you can help drive change.