AADE has been a long-time supporter of H.R. 1192 - The National Clinical Care Commission Act. This legislation recently passed the House and now must pass the U.S. Senate before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature and become law.
AADE has sent a letter of support to the two committee leaders who will oversee hearings on this legislation: Senator Lamar Alexander, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and to Senator Patty Murray who is the Democratic Ranking member on the same committee
This bill establishes a commission that will make recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of HHS on improving diabetes care delivery and patient outcomes. The National Clinical Care Commission will:
- Consist of private sector experts such as endocrinologists and other health care professionals, patient advocates, and specialists in federal agencies most involved in clinical care.
- Provide a formal mechanism for federal agencies to receive consistent and direct clinical expertise and a practical perspective from professionals who work directly with patients.
- Identify and evaluate current federal quality improvement activities and critical gaps in efforts to support clinicians in providing integrated, high quality care.
- Make recommendations regarding clinically-based activities supported by federal resources to maximize their effectiveness in improving the quality of care provided to patients with diabetes and its complications.
- Assist in the development, coordination and evaluation of clinical resources and tools produced by federal agencies and in disseminating this information to health care professionals and patients in their communities.
- Evaluate innovative care models and outcomes-based registry data for providing optimal cost-effective care.
- Evaluate the HHS diabetes screening program, annual wellness visit and other prevention activities that may reduce diabetes and its complications; identify problems related to the utilization of programs and data collection.
- Forward recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of HHS within three years and then sunset.
- Operate with existing funds at no additional cost to the government.
What can you do?
Please call your Senator. All you need to do is have a 20 second conversation with their office. Simply ask the staff person who answers the phone to let the Senator know that you support H.R. 1192 – The National Clinical Care Commission Act – and you’d like the Senator to support and co-sponsor the legislation. If you don’t know who your Senator is or how to reach them, you can click on this link to find out who they are and how to contact them:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
You can call their local or D.C. office.
To see a copy of the letter sent to the Senate, please click here:
https://whttps://www.diabeteseducator.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/aade-letter-of-support-for-hr-1192.pdf?sfvrsn=2
If you have any comments or questions, please contact AADE Advocacy Director Kurt Anderson at kanderson@aadenet.org