As in other countries, the Australian health care system has limited capacity to rapidly move a future treatment for Alzheimer’s disease from approval into wide clinical use, which could leave thousands of older people without access to transformative care if such a breakthrough occurs, according to a new study by RAND Australia.
The most pressing problem would be the availability of medical specialists to evaluate and diagnose patients who may have early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Other capacity shortcomings may include the availability of specialized diagnostic scanners and infusion centres to deliver treatments to people with early-stage disease.
Researchers estimate…
