Accelerating Access to Dementia and Alzheimer's Provider Training Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the AADAPT Act, legislation I am proud to be co-leading along with my good friends and colleagues Representatives Troy Balderson, Nanette Barragan, and Darin LaHood.

Alzheimer's is a devastating disease that impacts nearly 427,000 individuals in New York State alone. I would imagine that everyone in this room has been impacted in some form by Alzheimer's at some point. It is, first and foremost, a human crisis, but it is also a Federal budget crisis.

That is why I have been proud to be a champion of Alzheimer's-related issues during my time in Congress and why I feel so strongly about advancing the AADAPT Act today.

The AADAPT Act represents an investment in our provider workforce as we enter a new era of dementia care, with emerging tools like blood- based biomarker tests making earlier, more accessible diagnosis possible and increasingly shifting diagnosis into primary care.

This legislation is designed to close the gaps in dementia training by ensuring providers are prepared to responsibly adopt and apply these innovations in everyday practice.

One proven way to address this issue is with the Project ECHO training model. In my district, in the capital regional of New York, health systems like St. Peter's Health Partners in Albany County are already using the ECHO model and working to improve dementia care.

Mr. Speaker, I am indeed proud to have worked on the AADAPT Act and urge all of my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation that addresses advancements in this field of dementia care.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source