By Alex Moore
Dementia affected more than 6.7 million Americans in 2023, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with 14 million projected cases by 2060. The disease is brutal, not just for patients, but their families as well. It’s a major reason why 53 million Americans, according to an estimate from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, serve as unpaid caregivers for family member with special needs.
Luckily, the government is rapidly expanding a new program to help both dementia patients and the family members who help them navigate the disease. The program is called the GUIDE Model, which stands for Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience.
Launched across 96 healthcare organizations in July 2024 in collaboration with CMS, the model has expanded to 294 providers in 2025. These include academic medical centers, hospitals, private practices, and community-based organizations that already serve dementia patients.
The model promotes improved dementia care—and helps seniors with dementia live at home for longer—by using a standardized approach to build a care plan that’s centered on each patient’s individual needs and circumstances. It brings together a team of specialists, led by a government-trained Care Navigator, to identify the care coordination services required to manage the patient’s dementia and other medical conditions. The plan is holistic, covering everything from clinical services like doctor’s visits to non-clinical ones such as access to meals and transportation through community-based organizations.
The model includes unpaid caregivers at every step. In addition to including them in conversations about care coordination, it connects caregivers to training that helps them learn about best practices for caring for loved ones with dementia. It also provides funding and access to respite services, such as adult daycare, so that unpaid caregivers can take time off from looking after their loved ones to take care of their own mental and physical health.
The GUIDE Model only has a few requirements for participation: The patient must be enrolled in Medicare, they must have a dementia diagnosis, and they must not live in a nursing home. Most states have at least one participating organization, and if you think the program is a good fit for yourself or a loved one, it’s easy to learn more. You can find a list of participating organizations available for download at this link or by visiting the CMS website and searching for the model by name.
