Bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to combat Alzheimer’s disease became law on Dec. 31 with the president’s signature.
The Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act, S. 2076, will establish the nation’s first-of-its-kind public health infrastructure to fight Alzheimer’s, a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior — symptoms that worsen over time, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“The BOLD Act takes a multi-pronged public health approach that will create a modern infrastructure for the prevention, treatment and care of Alzheimer’s and related dementias. I am proud of the overwhelming bipartisan support our legislation received in Congress and in communities across the nation,” Sen. Collins said this week. “BOLD brings us to the brink of a brighter day for Alzheimer’s.”
The U.S. Senate on Dec. 12 amended S. 2076 and approved it by voice vote. The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 19 voted 361-3 to pass the measure and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Monday.
Joining Sen. Collins in introducing the bill in November 2017 were original cosponsors U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Tim Kaine (D-VA). S. 2076 garnered 57 total cosponsors.
In the House, U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the identical bill, H.R. 4256, which had 255 cosponsors.
Specifically, S. 2076 amends the Public Health Service Act to award cooperative agreements that create or support national or regional centers of excellence in public health practice on Alzheimer’s disease; to promote cognitive functioning, address cognitive impairment and other unique aspects of Alzheimer’s disease to help meet the needs of caregivers; and to analyze and publically report data on the state and national levels regarding cognitive decline and caregiving and health disparities that will inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2020 report, according to the congressional record summary of the bill.
“Alzheimer’s disease is one of the greatest and most under-recognized public health threats of our time,” said Sen. Collins, a founder and Senate co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. “Millions of Americans and thousands of Mainers are living with the disease, and that number is soaring as our overall population grows older and lives longer.”
Following decades of increased investments in biomedical research of Alzheimer’s, Sen. Collins said that the nation is “ready for the next step: to translate research into practice.”
About 5.5 million Americans — 28,000 of them living in Maine — have Alzheimer’s, a disease that costs the United States more than $277 billion a year, including $186 billion in Medicare and Medicaid costs, according to a statement provided by Sen. Collins’ office.
Under the new law, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been authorized to receive $20 million a year over the next five years to establish Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Public Health Centers of Excellence, which will implement the CDC’s Healthy Aging Public Health Road Map, among other tasks, according to the statement.
Cooperative agreements with the CDC also will be awarded to state health departments to meet local needs in promoting brain health, reducing risk of cognitive decline, improving care for those with Alzheimer’s, and other key public health activities.
Additionally, data grants to improve the analysis and timely reporting of data on Alzheimer’s, cognitive decline, caregiving and health disparities at the state and national levels with be awarded by the CDC.