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A consistent theme is emerging in my conversations with Medicare Advantage and accountable care executives. Many organizations have worked the familiar levers — coding accuracy, pharmacy, post-acute utilization, network performance — and are now looking for the next meaningful source of clinical and financial improvement. One answer is already inside their attributed population; people living with dementia and the family caregiver who is carrying the weight.
Dementia is still too often treated as a narrow clinical category rather than a population-health risk multiplier. It typically accounts for 6–9% of a Medicare population but a far larger share of its total cost. According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2026 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, an estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older are now living with Alzheimer’s, and average per-person Medicare payments for beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s or another dementia are nearly three times higher than for those without — and these beneficiaries have twice as many hospital stays per year.