Several new blood tests cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, providing clinicians with new tools to reach patients early when interventions have the greatest chance of success. The tests are easier to use and less expensive than traditional methods, while offering a high degree of accuracy in detecting the hallmarks of the disease. But these advancements will only have an impact if people believe that there is hope after diagnosis and seek help when they have cognitive concerns.
In the course of my career, I’ve seen numerous heartbreaking trial failures as scientific hypotheses about Alzheimer’s disease didn’t pan out. When the FDA approved two therapies in 2023 and 2024 that could slow progression of Alzheimer’s by eliminating amyloid plaques in the brain, I was skeptical. As a scientist, I always will be. It is difficult to know whether a treatment is working in any individual patient. But as I began administering these treatments to patients in the early stages of disease, I noticed that many, though not all, seem to do far better than I expect, maintaining their cognitive abilities for longer periods of time than I was used to seeing.
One of my patients, Dr. Brent Beasley, has made a particular impression on me. When I met Brent, he was a 57-year-old internal medicine physician in Kansas City, in many ways a leader in his field. His unexplained memory lapses cost him his job and his employer-sponsored insurance. It was a devastating time for his family. Brent was in a fog as his wife fought through the medical system for nearly a year before I was able to diagnose him.
Typically, when a person in their late 50s comes to me with symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s, they sharply decline over the next three to five years. Not Brent. He describes a moment, nine months into treatment, when “the lights came back on.” His memory and cognitive abilities are stronger now. He went from struggling in his daily life to resuming his responsibilities as a deacon, taking speaking engagements, and teaching medical students about important topics like bedside manner.
More patients like Brent are accumulating in our memory clinic in Kansas City and in doctors’ offices across the country. Sandy Schulin, a patient at Penn Memory Center, lost and later regained her ability to play Beethoven on the piano following treatment.
People with cognitive concerns should take heart. The question is no longer whether these drugs work, but rather why they work well for some and not others. More research is needed to understand the “why.” But the key to every positive outcome I’ve seen is early diagnosis. There are surely more Brents and Sandys out there who can benefit from these therapies and potentially other interventions, if only we can find them in time.
Leaders in medicine and government must urgently address this problem. Despite the incredible progress we’re seeing in diagnostic technology, and the growing impact we’re seeing with treatment, our medical system is not set up to diagnose Alzheimer’s early or reliably enough for many patients to benefit from these advances.
Today, memory clinics across the country face months-long waitlists, and there are not enough dementia specialists to personally evaluate every patient with cognitive concerns. At the same time, primary care physicians, who are often the first to see signs of cognitive impairment, often lack the tools and training to confidently use newly cleared blood tests and diagnose Alzheimer’s early in the disease process.
At the University of Kansas Medical Center, we are redesigning memory care to accommodate the high volume of patients — driven by an aging population and, for the first time, real hope of treatment. Our system integrates primary care physicians and specialists. And we use tools —standardized cognitive evaluations, blood tests, electronic health record workflows, and specialist consultation pathways — that can help identify straightforward cases earlier and reserve specialty clinics for the most complex patients. This approach has already increased our diagnostic capacity by 60% without adding a single neurologist.
We need health systems around the country to deliver the care that patients and families urgently need. The federal government can accelerate this work by investing in new models and reimbursement pathways that empower primary care to detect and diagnose Alzheimer's early, when interventions can have the greatest effect – and by supporting research to understand why some patients do better on treatment than others.
For most of my career, Alzheimer’s care meant helping patients prepare for decline. Today, we can help more patients live like Brent and Sandy, slowing progression and holding onto joyful lives. The challenge now is ensuring our healthcare system finds patients early enough to give them that chance.
Dr. Jeff Burns is co-director of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and chairman of the Alzheimer’s Policy Working Group.
