From Policy to Practice: A National Agenda to Improve Parkinson's Care, Access, and Innovation
Click to read the full report, “Parkinson's Care and Innovation: A Patient-Centered Agenda for Change.”
Parkinson’s disease (PD) care has reached an inflection point. More than one million people in the United States are living with PD. It is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world, yet fewer than one in ten receive care from a movement disorder specialist. Workforce shortages, a fragmented care delivery system, and persistent data gaps have challenged PD care for years, leaving too many without access to timely, high-quality care. Despite an acceleration in technological innovation to diagnose, treat, and manage PD, these foundational problems remain. The PD community deserves solutions to these growing challenges and a roadmap for a better future.
In response, the Parkinson’s Foundation convened the National Roundtable on Parkinson’s Care and Innovation on September 4, 2025. People living with PD joined multidisciplinary professionals across health care, policy, and innovation to chart a path forward. The 20 participants included former federal agency leaders, movement disorder specialists, rehabilitation professionals, nurse practitioners, med tech founders, leaders of medical societies, people with PD, and more. The result is the nation’s first patient-centered agenda to transform PD care, centered around four solutions.
- Build Community Clinician Capability to manage Parkinson’s leveraging movement disorder expertise, training, and education (hub-and-spoke model).
- Develop a Sustainable, Integrated Care Model that improves care coordination and patient outcomes.
- Define the Minimum Clinical Dataset to support care coordination across settings for people with PD.
- Prioritize Patient-Centered Technologies that are clinically relevant, scalable, and backed by a strong business case.
Together, the national agenda offers a practical blueprint for policymakers, providers, payers, innovators, and other stakeholders to coalesce around shared goals and accelerate impact. As implementation of the Dr. Emmanuel Bilirakis and Honorable Jennifer Wexton National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act begins, this agenda provides timely guidance on how a broad spectrum of policy solutions and system-level solutions can drive meaningful improvements in access, quality, and outcomes for people living with PD.
Acknowledgements
Manatt Health is proud to have supported the Parkinson’s Foundation by facilitating and participating on the national roundtable.
About the Parkinson’s Foundation
The Parkinson’s Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson’s disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson’s community. Since 1957, the Parkinson’s Foundation has invested more than $449 million in Parkinson’s research and clinical care. Connect with us on Parkinson.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or call 1-800-4PD-INFO (1-800-473-4636).
