Health Law Requires Medicare To Cover Dementia Evaluation

For those persons over 65, who are covered by Medicare, health law now requires Medicare to cover a screening for cognitive impairment during an annual wellness visit. Usually, this is done with a 30 question test called the mini-mental.  the test takes about ten minutes to complete. The experts can still not agree as to the value of the test being routinely administered to the general population. According to an article recently published by the Kasier Health News, ” The risk of dementia increases with age: its prevalence is 5 percent in people aged 71 to 79, rising to 37 percent of those older than 90. Mild cognitive impairment has many definitions, but the term generally refers to people whose impairment isn’t severe enough to hamper their ability to manage their daily lives. By some estimates up to 42 percent of people older than 65 have it. Mild cognitive impairment is a warning sign, but it may not progress to Alzheimer’s disease, says Dean Hartley, director of science initiatives at the Alzheimer’s Association. ”

To read the full article, go to:

Health Law Requires Medicare To Cover Dementia Evaluation – Kaiser Health News.

* The information contained in this Blog is intended for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or an opinion of counsel.