Memory Care Home Solutions

Disrupting Dementia Care

Memory Care Home Solutions logo
Project Date

Oct 2022—Dec 2023

Type of Evaluation

Formative, Needs Assessment, Planning, Process

Setting

Community-based

Overview

Memory Care Home Solutions (MCHS) provides families with non-pharmacological, evidence-based treatment that improves the quality of life and health outcomes for people living with dementia and care partners. With the Disrupting Dementia Care grant, MCHS aims to disrupt the standard dementia-care model and create a pathway for non-pharmacological dementia treatment to be delivered within the health care system. It seeks to understand the system, design a compatible model, and determine a method to assess and understand the feasibility of replication.

The Evaluation Center is partnering with MCHS to document challenges and barriers faced with creating a model and disseminate learnings to organizations. We are conducting key informant interviews, providing recommendations for an Implementation Guide, and developing a systems-level evaluation plan to fully test the billing model.

Project Description

Background

Memory Care Home Solutions (MCHS) focuses on extending and improving quality time at home for families caring for loved ones with memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease. MCHS serves a vulnerable population, often overlooked by the healthcare system. Non-drug dementia interventions have been tested in randomized controlled trials and found to be more effective than available drug therapies, but people do not have access to these treatments. Currently, payment mechanisms and infrastructure to support non-drug treatment for dementia care do not exist in the healthcare delivery system. Because of this, providers are reluctant or unable to adopt these best practices. MCHS provides families with non-pharmacological, evidence-based treatment that improves the quality of life and health outcomes for people living with dementia and care partners.

With this grant, MCHS aims to increase health equity for older adults with dementia by disrupting the standard dementia-care model and creating a pathway for non-pharmacological dementia treatment to be delivered within the health care system. By creating change in the delivery and reimbursement of dementia treatment within healthcare, MCHS will reduce barriers and increase health equity for this underserved population.

Evaluation Center Activities

  • Conduct key informant interviews with healthcare providers and referral partners.
  • Disseminate key informant interview findings.
  • Assist with the development of a data system by providing recommendations based on the key informant interviews, and work with MCHS to identify the necessary data points and metrics to include in the system.
  • Develop a systems-level evaluation plan to fully test the billing model.

Our Products

  • Key informant interview guide
  • Key informant interview finding summaries
  • Recommendations for the data system that emerge from key informant interviews
  • Evaluation plan

Funder

Missouri Foundation for Health

Contact Person