PARTNERSHIP RELATIONS

Treatment of Memory Loss from Dementia and other Age-related Disorders is the most needed and least available treatment today

Healthcare in America is immersed in a paradigm shift. We are becoming aware that as the population ages we have to manage a set of diseases that are not curable and, hence by definition, long-term and expensive. Nowhere is this condition more evident than in the treatment of the dementias and especially Alzheimer's disease.

Consider some basic facts. In I998 there were 4 million people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In 2040, the number will rise to 14 million. We are speaking of 5% of the population. The prevalence rates are below 1% at age 65 but rise to 11% for males and 14% for females at age 85.

The cost to the nation is an astounding $80 to $100 billion a year. The cost to a family is $174,000. Of most tragic, 70% of Alzheimer patients live at home where the family must pay out-of-pocket expenses that average around $12,500 a year, but cost much more in wear and tear of the family. 50 per cent of caregivers, for instance, require psychiatric care and 27% require medical care from the stress of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease.

It has been estimated that there is a 5-year span between initial symptoms and admission to a nursing home. If treatment can be applied during this period, the cost of the disease would be cut in half and the need for nursing home care would be extended further into the future.

The emphasis today is to encourage early detection and prevention. Standard medical prescription encourages preventive treatment or treatment in the early stages of the disorder. Of most importance, early detection allows the patient to participate in a treatment that could grant at least 5 more years of normal functioning when treated.

The early warning sign is a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment. Individuals with such a diagnosis could progress to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s at a rate of 15% a year. When one considers that 13% of the US population is over 65, which translates to approximately 34 million people, the number of elderly with a Mild Cognitive Disorder, susceptible to Alzheimer’s and requiring treatment, may be as high as 20% or 6.8 million. Adding this number to the incident rate for Alzheimer’s, we are talking about 10 million people suffering from some stage of the disease and requiring treatment.

The ATMTC has recognized the need for preventive care and has carved out a treatment niche to serve this growing population. We are also ahead of the curve in determining how this care is reimbursed by third party payors. The reimbursement policies are national and can be replicated in any geographical area.

A Partnership to Evaluate and Treat

The goal of ATMTC is to develop partnerships with existing practitioners who wish to expand their practice into the area of Alzheimer's and memory loss. We are especially interested in working with psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists. The maintenance  expenses of a facility would be minimal since they would only be shifting resources in existing facilities or in some cases using dead time and space.

We offer a partnership in the Center at your locality. We provide the treatment models including computer programs for treatment and tests for assessment. We also provide manuals containing the research supporting treatment and evaluation. Finally, we provide the marketing and the procedure to refer patients to your office or enable you to establish Centers in Senior Communities . Your can concentrate on evaluating and treating.

We have developed a data-driven view of the financial status of an individual ATMTC through an actual practice that has been reimbursed through 3rd party billing. We have available an estimate of the revenue and costs of a Center to provide you with a concrete instance of operating costs and revenue. Our experience is the revenue from a Center is at least $1,200 a day of operation.

The start-up costs to someone with an ongoing practice is approximately a couple hundred dollars for miscellaneous expenses assuming a computer is available. The practitioner is awarded 50% of revenue after expenses for staffing, if needed, billing and marketing. Center placement, insuring a strong patient flow, is arranged by the ATMTC.  Practice fees for consultation and medication management are retained by the practitioner. Modifications of percentages do occur and will be discussed with each practitioner. The initial set-up fee for the founding members of ATMTC is $5,000 per Center which can be taken from initial revenue.

If you are interested in developing a ATMTC site in your practice, your first step would be to email us at info@alzheimerstreatmentmemory.com and  provide us with as much information as possible on your practice including your city and availability to in terms of number of days a week. The next step is to set up a phone meeting to answer questions and begin a dialog on the partnership.  The last step is to meet with us in New York to observe an operation and begin training or we will visit your office for two days to set up operations and training. Cost is dependent on location.