(Radio Iowa) – A northeast Iowa hospice center is piloting a new healthcare model for patients with dementia. Cedar Valley Hospice is one of about 400 care facilities nationwide unrolling a new program aimed at improving care for at-home dementia patients. Michaela Vandersee, the Waterloo center’s executive director, says the program’s focus will be a step toward better treatment for rural Iowans.

The program is a new approach to provide both healthcare and reimbursement resources for patients and their in-home caregivers. Vandersee says dementia is all-too common in the region, and support in rural areas has been sparse.

Vandersee estimates an additional 12-hundred patients will be eligible for assistance across the center’s 15-county area, as part of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s GUIDE program.

(Grant Leo Winterer, Iowa Public Radio)