government
AMA backs diabetes prevention bill
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 5, 2012
The American Medical Association is supporting a bipartisan federal bill to improve diabetes care and outcomes. The legislation, sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D, N.H.) and Susan Collins (R, Maine), would create a commission to evaluate current federal diabetes quality improvement efforts and identify areas where new strategies might be needed, wrote AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, in letters to the two senators.
The commission also would be charged with eliminating duplication in quality improvement efforts and helping to coordinate these efforts across federal agencies, as well as evaluating best practices and resources for diabetes health care professionals and patients.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that one in three Americans will be diabetic by 2050 if current trends continue, Dr. Madara wrote, adding that one out of every 10 health care dollars is spent on diabetes-related issues. The commission the bill would create “will be an important step forward in addressing the diabetes epidemic,” he stated.
The legislation has been referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/05/gvbf1105.htm.
