GUIDE Program
- Penn FTD Center
- Jan 29
- 2 min read
Dementia support can be challenging to navigate. Health care often appears disjointed, and it can feel impossible to find and coordinate the most appropriate care, community resources, and education while caring for your loved one full-time.
The GUIDE program (Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience) is a new initiative through Medicare that aims to target these challenges by providing comprehensive, high-quality dementia care and caregiver support at home.
GUIDE offers
A dedicated Care Navigator to help create a personalized dementia care plan, answer questions about the health care system and coordinate services
Access to a 24/7 help line for time-sensitive questions
Training and education for care partners to help the individual with dementia stay home safely for as long as possible
Access to community resources, support groups and counseling
Limited financial reimbursement for respite expenses, such as in-home care or adult day center enrollment, for moderate and severe patient cases
GUIDE aims to improve the quality of life and health outcomes of both people living with dementia and their care partners by providing individualized, proactive, dementia-specialized care.
To participate in GUIDE, a person needs:
A confirmed diagnosis of dementia by a clinician.
Medicare as primary insurance, with enrollment in Medicare Parts A & B (not Medicare Advantage or PACE).
To be residing at home (not in a long-term nursing home) and not enrolled in hospice.
At this time, Penn Medicine’s Penn Memory and FTD Centers are only able to enroll individuals residing in the surrounding Pennsylvania counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery at this time.
To learn more about the Penn Memory Center and Penn FTD Center GUIDE program:
We hope to extend our service area in the future, but if you do not reside in one of the above locations, you can see if there is a GUIDE site in your area here.
