Cognitive Neurology Clinic (including Aging Brain Clinic) Referrals
For Referring Providers
The Memory and Cognitive Disorders Division at UNC Neurology is currently focused on the diagnosis and treatment of patients at earlier stages of their disease and with a higher level of independence and function. This ensures that the patient will be able to participate in all testing and decisions associated to the diagnostic and therapeutic process, thus increasing the chance of benefiting from the most updated therapies available, and eligibility for clinical trials.
To ensure a comprehensive assessment and tailored care plan for your patient, we request additional information regarding their current diagnosis and functional status. Specifically, we kindly ask that you provide us with the “Functional Activities Questionnaire in Older Adults with Dementia”, (1), to be completed by the closest caregiver, and one of the following: the “Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA)” (2), the St. Louis University Test of Mental Status (SLUMS)” (3) or the Folstein Mini-mental status test (MMSE) (4).
All patients must submit the Functional Activities Questionnaire and one of the following three cognitive screens:
- Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) Test – Must be completed by the patient’s family member or caregiver. Please note – a score must be given to each of the 10 items. Blanks are not allowed.
- Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Test – Must be completed by the referring clinician. MoCA certification is NOT required to administer the MoCA test. If you are unclear on how to administer it, instructions for completion are below.
- St. Louis University Test of Mental Status (SLUMS)
- Folstein Mini-Mental Status Test (MMSE)
Once MoCA/SLUMS/MMSE and FAQ results are available, please place a new referral and place the scores in the comments section.
- For those being referred for monoclonal anti-amyloid therapy consideration, these criteria are a MOCA ≥ 17/SLUMS ≥ 17/MMSE ≥ 22 and FAQ ≤ 22.
- For those being referred for a general (non-mAAb) dementia evaluation, the criteria are MOCA ≥ 12/SLUMS ≥12/MMSE ≥ 16 and FAQ ≤ 22.
- We no longer see patients purely for dementia-related behavior management or those who are at the severe stage of dementia (FAST 6 or 7).