New Dementia Tracker Finds 5.4 Million Likely Cases Among Medicare Beneficiaries

More than 5.4 million Medicare recipients likely have Alzheimer's or another type of dementia, representing 9% of all Medicare beneficiaries. The estimate was reported by a newly launched Dementia DataHub national surveillance system for tracking the prevalence of dementia in the United States.

The model indicates that in 2019, 7.2% of Medicare beneficiaries were highly likely to have dementia based on claims and utilization data. Another 1.9% likely had dementia and 4.3% possibly had dementia.

According to the DataHub, states with the highest prevalence of Medicare recipients with dementia include Florida (8.2%), Texas (8 . . .