The Fall Meeting of the DAC Healthcare System Preparedness Learning Laboratory | 16 October 2025
Life-changing innovations for Alzheimer’s disease have finally arrived, yet a persistent adoption gap means far too few patients and families are benefiting. The barriers go beyond the science but are also systemic: coordination, referral pathways, workflows, education, and sustainable funding.
To close this gap, leading healthcare systems are piloting a Brain Health Navigator (BHN) model that helps patients move smoothly from detection to diagnosis to care. The BHN model takes a “boundary-spanning” approach – bridging primary care, specialists, and community supports - so patients and providers have a single, easy-to-use resource for timely, coordinated care decisions and ongoing support.v
On October 16, 2025, the DAC-SP Learning Laboratory convened more than 400 stakeholders to share lessons from the Brain Health Navigator program. The model, developed by DAC Healthcare System Preparedness (DAC-SP) from its early detection initiatives, is now being tested across six diverse U.S. healthcare systems: Dartmouth Health (NH) · Keck School of Medicine of USC (CA) · Memorial Health System (MI) · Norton Healthcare (KY) · Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers (CA) · UC Health (OH)
Each site is adapting the model to its local strengths and context while advancing a shared goal: making early, accurate brain health care routine, not rare. A new DAC-SP Brain Health Navigator Toolkit – co-designed with these implementation sites - is now available to help other healthcare systems design their own programs with templates for workflows, billing, training, and team roles.