AADE 2019 Public Policy Forum
Monday, May 20, 2019, marked the first day of AADE Advocacy day in Washington, DC. I was amazed at the number of health care professionals who have traveled across the 35 states to attend this fantastic event. Karen Kemmis, AADE President, jump-started this advocacy event. The key focus areas for the 2019 Public Policy Forum was:
- Federal Legislation to expand access to DSMET (H.R. 1840, S.814)
- Building relationships among members of Congress, AADE leadership, and industry partners, and
- Developing advocacy infrastructure to strengthen communication and engagement between the AADE and state coordinating bodies.
HR 1840/S 814 changes current law by expanding access to DSMT. Senate Bill 814 was introduced by Senator Shaheen (D-NH) and US House bill 1840 was introduced by Representative Reed (R-NY) and DeGette (D-CO) in March 2019. The passing of these two bills will over additional benefits to persons living with diabetes (PLWD) by extending the initial 10 hours of DSMT beyond the initial year, allowing 6 hours of DSMT after the initial year, and allowing additional hours of DSMT if medically necessary. Furthermore, passing of this legislation would enable MSMT and MNT to be covered in the same day, removing Medicare cost sharing and deductible requirements, allow managing physicians and qualified nonphysicians to refer to DSMT, and clarifies that hospital departments can provide DSMT in nonhospital settings.
Why Advocate?
Advocacy involves supporting, defending, or coming to action on a matter which can affect one person or people across the aggregate. The AADE is actively advocating policies which improve access to diabetes educations, improves the cost of diabetes medications and supplies, and improving systems that affect PLWD, but we need your help. Participates in local and national advocacy events! Speak with your legislatures to tell them how you, your families, and your community. You can track current bills in the Missouri House and Senate at https://house.mo.gov/LegislationSP.aspx. Also, you can find a list of Missouri House of Representative at https://www.house.mo.gov/MemberRoster.aspx and the Missouri Senate at https://www.senate.mo.gov/. Remember, your Missouri Congress Person wants to hear from you as they value your experiences and opinions.