Send letters to your congressmen today encouraging them to support and co-sponsor bills:
H.R. 1726 Click to take action
S. 1345 Click to take action
These bills will help our practice and people with diabetes. They will:
- Designate CDEs as Medicare-approved providers of DSMT services;
- Facilitate the ability of CDEs to work with various physician practice groups or offices to provide regular diabetes clinics on site as needed;
- Provide diabetes education in an approved culturally appropriate local community setting, and
- Help reduce diabetes-related minority health disparities due to insufficient access to diabetes education and training in some communities.
Why do we need this legislative fix?
When Congress enacted DSMT as a Medicare benefit in 1997, the legislative language was broadly referred as “Medicare providers” of DSMT. Since ‘Diabetes Educators’ were not named as “Medicare providers,” they do not exist in the statute and cannot be reimbursed by Medicare.
Ensuring that credentialed diabetes educators are recognized as DSMT providers will promote greater quality of care in the Medicare program. Federal recognition of credentialed diabetes educators as Medicare DSMT providers will likely strengthen state Medicaid DSMT programs.