Senate passes Alzheimer’s task force bill

Improving services to Georgians with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia would be the job of a new state task force, under a bill passed Wednesday by the Senate.

Senate Bill 14 would empower the panel’s six members — including officials with the state Department of Human Services — to document trends of people living with progressive, irreversible neurological disorders, how they get treatment now and what could be done to improve their care.

The panel would get about a year to do its work. It would disband by March 31, 2014, and turn into an advisory council to monitor the state’s progress on its recommendations.