Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease Urges Congress to Refocus Health Reform Effort
Letter to Pelosi, Reid Emphasizes the Value of Policies that Target Chronic Diseases
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 31, 2009) - The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) is calling on Congress to use the coming weeks to reevaluate health reform legislation and ensure that it focuses on the greatest opportunity for real cost savings and health promotion: preventing and better managing chronic illnesses.
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the group said, "We believe that sustainable affordability of health care will not be possible unless we take immediate and bold action to fight chronic disease." The letter calls for leadership to adopt value-driven policies designed to tackle rising rates of costly chronic diseases. Specifically, the group is urging Congress to:
- Include care coordination in Medicare, such as community health teams;
- Tie Medicare payments to the quality of care received, not the quantity of care;
- Support primary prevention of chronic disease by stimulating growth and participation in workplace, community and school wellness programs;
- Remove barriers patients face to effective treatment and management of chronic illness; and,
- Streamline administrative health care costs to reduce unnecessary spending.
"In light of the fact that the health reform will not be complete before the August recess, now is the opportune time for Congress to take a step back and re-examine their proposals," said Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Executive Director of PFCD, and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. "The current bills are a great start but could be strengthened if provisions that both show long-term cost savings and improve the quality of care - like better care coordination through mechanisms such as community health teams - were made available nationally in Medicare within 3 years."
Nearly half of Americans currently suffer from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary disease, driving 75 percent of annual health spending in the U.S., and an even higher proportion in Medicare and Medicaid. Many of these illnesses could be prevented altogether through lifestyle interventions, like diet, exercise and not smoking.
About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) is a national and state-based coalition of patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups, and health policy experts committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: chronic disease.
For more information about the PFCD and its partner organizations, please visit: www.fightchronicdisease.org.
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