Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience -GUIDE
GUIDE is a new Medicare initiative to improve care for people living with dementia. The program supports their unpaid caregivers with navigation, education, coordination, and respite services at no cost to eligible beneficiaries.
It’s an eight-year nationwide pilot program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), started in July 2024.
Benefits include:
- care navigation
- caregiver training/support
- coordination of medical and community services,
- and access to respite care (sometimes with an annual value amount)
To participate, you must enroll in Traditional Medicare (Parts A & B) as your primary insurance to qualify. And have a clinically confirmed dementia diagnosis (e.g., Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Lewy body, frontotemporal dementia), usually confirmed by a clinician on the program’s roster.
People enrolled in Medicare Advantage, PACE, or in Medicare hospice, and those residing in long-term nursing facilities typically are not eligible.
GUIDE aims to help people with dementia live safely at home longer, reduce caregiver strain, and improve quality of life through proactive, coordinated support.
Local organizations supporting GUIDE connections
While not all traditional local home care agencies are direct Medicare GUIDE participants themselves, two in the Twin Cities that may be are Visiting Angels and Synergy Home Care.
For more information see here.