The 2026-2035 National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease is a federal strategy document, now being rewritten by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to guide Alzheimer's and dementia policy for the next decade. HHS collected public input through a formal comment period and listening sessions earlier this year, and family caregivers who missed those windows still have a way to weigh in before the plan is finalized. The update replaces the prior National Plan, which HHS revised annually since its creation under the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA). This time, the agency is building a single comprehensive framework meant to run through 2035, and it says the finished plan will arrive later this year.
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Table of Contents
- What HHS Asked the Public and Why It Matters
- How Caregivers Were Brought Into the Process Directly
- What Caregiving Organizations Told HHS Was Missing
- When the Plan Is Expected and What's Still Unconfirmed
- How to Weigh In Now, Even After the Deadline Passed
What HHS Asked the Public and Why It Matters
HHS, acting through its Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the NAPA program, published a formal Request for Information in the Federal Register to gather public input for the 2026-2035 plan update, with comments due by August 15, 2026. A Request for Information, or RFI, is a standard federal tool agencies use to collect public and expert input before writing policy — it's not a vote or a grant program, just an open invitation to submit written comments. The RFI focused on four areas, according to the HHS/ASPE announcement: advancing Alzheimer's and related dementia research and new treatments, strategies to reduce risk, early detection and diagnostic tools, and better care, services, and supports for people with dementia and their caregivers.
Those four categories map directly onto what the finished plan is expected to address. HHS specifically invited people living with Alzheimer's or another dementia, family members, caregivers and care partners, researchers, clinicians, service providers, advocates, and policymakers to submit comments, according to the same announcement. That breadth matters for caregivers because it means the input wasn't limited to academic or clinical voices — personal caregiving experience was treated as evidence the plan should reflect.
How Caregivers Were Brought Into the Process Directly
Beyond written comments, HHS held five virtual listening sessions between July 13 and July 17, 2026, with two sessions set aside specifically for people living with Alzheimer's or dementia and their caregivers, according to the 2026 NAPA Listening Session Report. That structure gave caregivers a direct channel to describe what support is missing, separate from the broader research and clinical conversation.
Earlier in the year, the federal Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services — the body that oversees NAPA implementation — met on February 9, 2026, and discussed the planned update. Public comment at that meeting was limited to two minutes per registered speaker, with written comments accepted through February 11, 2026, according to the ASPE meeting announcement. Together, the February council meeting, the July listening sessions, and the August RFI deadline formed three separate points where caregiver input reached HHS before drafting began.
What Caregiving Organizations Told HHS Was Missing
LeadingAge, a national association representing aging-services providers, submitted formal RFI comments on August 15, 2026, the deadline day. Its submission flagged insufficient funding and policy support for dementia-specific care, inadequate workforce training, and limited availability of family caregiver support programs as central gaps, according to LeadingAge's comment letter.
Those three gaps — funding, workforce training, and caregiver support program availability — are a useful checklist for what to watch when the finished plan is published. If the 2026-2035 plan expands funding tied to any of these areas, it's a direct response to input gathered during this process rather than an unrelated new initiative.
When the Plan Is Expected and What's Still Unconfirmed
HHS has stated it intends to release the updated plan in late 2026, replacing the prior annually-updated framework with a single strategy running through 2035, according to ASPE's description of its approach to the update. As of this writing, no final published plan text has been confirmed, and the drafting process remained pending as of October 2026, per ASPE's NAPA program page.
That means the comment period and listening sessions have closed, but the plan itself has not yet been released. Caregivers watching for concrete policy changes — funding levels, new caregiver support programs, diagnostic guidelines — won't see those details until HHS publishes the final document.
How to Weigh In Now, Even After the Deadline Passed
Missing the August 15 RFI deadline doesn't shut a caregiver out of the process. HHS accepts input year-round by email at [email protected], and those submissions are shared directly with the Advisory Council even outside formal comment windows, according to ASPE's NAPA program page.
Caregivers can also register to speak at future Advisory Council meetings, which are announced on ASPE's Advisory Council meetings page. That page remains the ongoing channel for public input as the plan moves toward its late-2026 release, so checking it periodically is the most direct way to find the next opportunity to speak or submit written comments.
- Email [email protected] anytime to submit input outside a formal comment window
- Check the Advisory Council meetings page for the next scheduled session and registration details
- Watch for the late-2026 plan release to see whether funding, workforce training, or caregiver support gaps raised by groups like LeadingAge were addressed
