The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on October 22 released the 2026 Update to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias, the formal federal strategy document that for the first time names related dementias in its title and replaces the plan's six longstanding goals with four: reducing dementia risk across the lifespan, accelerating discovery and innovation, advancing dementia care from diagnosis through transitions, and strengthening services for people living with dementia and their families, according to the HHS press release and the plan text posted on hhs.gov. The update follows a public comment period HHS opened in July under a Federal Register request for comment on rewriting the plan for the 2026-2035 period.
The document directs action across ten HHS agencies plus partners including the Department of Veterans Affairs. Alongside the release, the Food and Drug Administration launched what it calls the Alzheimer's Prevention Accelerator, including a new cross-center program named NeuroNexus meant to coordinate the agency's drug, biologics and device reviewers on brain and nervous system products. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health said it would commit up to 48.8 million dollars to three new projects on earlier detection and intervention, bringing its total Alzheimer's-related investment to as much as 155.3 million dollars, according to HHS and reporting by McKnight's Long-Term Care News and Becker's Hospital Review. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announcing the update at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said "millions of American families have seen the devastating toll of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias."
HHS said the Administration for Community Living will expand brain health resources and elder justice training, and that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will test lifestyle intervention programs for beneficiaries with mild cognitive impairment. The National Plan has been reauthorized through 2035 under the National Alzheimer's Project Act, HHS said, and the 2026 Update lists priority activities planned for 2027, when agencies are to report progress toward the four goals.