H.R. 3747: AADAPT Act

H.R. 3747, the AADAPT Act, builds on a program called Project ECHO, which connects frontline clinicians with specialists through video-based case sessions — essentially on-the-job coaching for doctors who don't have an expert down the hall. The bill creates a new grant track inside that program aimed squarely at dementia.

Within one year of becoming law, HHS would have to award at least one grant to a public or nonprofit organization that can run this kind of training. The money is meant to help primary care clinicians get better at the early, accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's and related dementias.

Who it's built for is deliberately specific: doctors, nurses, and other primary care professionals working in rural areas, frontier areas, health professional shortage areas, and other underserved communities, including those serving Native Americans. These are the places where a dementia specialist is often hours away, if there's one at all.

The bill also asks for proof it's working. Applicants have to spell out how they'll track the effect on patients and providers, grant recipients report to a federal Alzheimer's advisory council, and HHS has to publish an updated progress report within four years. Dementia-track grantees also have to show the federal money adds to their budgets rather than replacing what they already spend.

On funding, the bill keeps the broader Project ECHO program authorized at $10 million a year through 2032 and adds a separate $1 million a year for the dementia track from 2027 through 2032 — about $6 million over six years if Congress actually appropriates it all.