New Diabetes Legislation A Benefit for Whom?

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What is this that has people going gagaand experts trying to get their names out in front to be part of anew commission? It seems a yet to be passed congressionallegislation is to blame. First it will have to be passed by theHouse and Senate and be signed by the President. Chances seemaverage for this to happen, but probably not until after theelection. In a letter from my congressional representative, hestated that it was highly doubtful anything would happen in thecurrent year. Once again, patients are not called upon to serve andlend their voices.
If passed, it will establish theNational Diabetes Clinical Care Commission (NDCCC). Under the Senateversion, the NDCCC will include diabetes experts and other healthcare providers who work directly with diabetes patients. Alsoincluded will be patient advocates and representatives from thefederal agencies most involved in diabetes care activities. Yetunknown is the actual number of commission members. Hopefully,non-government members will out number government members.
If passed, the NDCCC will have theresponsibility of evaluating current federal quality improvementinitiatives and identify redundant and ineffective policies. TheNDCCC will also determine which policies are effective, if any. Thecommission will make recommendations to the Secretary of Health andHuman Services and to the Congress on new approaches and theconsolidation of existing operations. The claim is made that thiswill help leverage the federal investment in diabetes research. Pastleverages of diabetes research has reduced the number of test stripspeople with diabetes are allowed to be reimbursed for so I havedoubts that this will improve patient outcomes or reduce to burden ofdiabetes.
The act is endorsed by the majordiabetes organizations, including the Pediatric Endocrine Society,the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and theAmerican Diabetes Association, in addition to the AACE and JDRF. Youhave to know that these groups want to have representatives on thecommission. These groups are rule and guideline oriented and will donothing to enhance to patients' position and lend efficiency to thegovernment agencies. Everything will be aimed at the average patientand nothing will be done for the individual differences and providingassistance for patients that vary outside the “norm”.
Tom Ross at notmedicatedyet has anexcellent blog about this topic. Even with his forewarning, I wasnot able to get any information from the site that he had a problemwith even though I tried to get it to print. I will only add thatwhat I was able to read was interesting.
This piece of congressional legislationwill be of benefit only to those who serve and will do nothing forthe patient population to prevent diabetes or assist those alreadyhaving diabetes. If it is passed, it will not be of benefit forthose needing help, only the rule and guideline makers who serve onthe commission. Once again, the patients that are needing a voice inour government will be left wanting.