We need your help.

In the past the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have introduced legislation to improve diabetes self-management training. Unfortunately, these legislative initiatives never became law. We have a chance now to change that.

On August 1, 2011, Representative Ed Whitifield (R-KY) introduced H.R. 2787 to the U.S. House of Representatives. The next day Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced S.1468. Both bills are titled the Medicare Diabetes Self-Management Training Act of 2011 and are virtually identical.

This legislation, if passed, will amend title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize state-licensed or registered health care professionals who are certified diabetes educators in an outpatient setting as authorized providers of Medicare diabetes outpatient self-management training services, including as part of telehealth services, under Medicare Part B.

Additionally, it directs the Comptroller General to study the barriers that exist for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes to access self-management training services under the Medicare program.

Finally, it directs the Director of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a series of recommendations on effective outreach methods to educate primary care physicians and the public about the benefits of diabetes self-management training.

The House of Representatives bill currently has 12 co-sponsors, and is in the House Subcommittee on Health. The Senate bill has 9 co-sponsors, and is in the Senate Committee on Finance. We need to generate as much support as possible for this legislation.

NCBDE Chair Susanna Robinson, NCBDE CEO Lance Hoxie, and I visited with 5 Congressional offices in Washington, DC in mid-November seeking their support. We will continue this effort, but we need your help to make a bigger impact and generate more support for both bills. One of the best things you can do is to contact your Representative and Senator and ask them to support the legislation by becoming a co-sponsor of S.1468, and H.R. 2787. A sample letter is attached that you can customize quickly and send to your Representative. Click here to access the sample letter on the NCBDE Web site.

Not sure who your Representative is? Go to this website - http://www.house.gov/ and type your zip code into the box on the top right of the page to find your Representative.

If you need more information, have a question, or need help writing the letter please contact me at wdelk@goamp.com or call me 202-253-7862. When you do write a letter, please send a quick email to me (wdelk@goamp.com) with a copy of your letter so we can track the progress of this effort.

Have your voices heard. With your support we can make this bill become law.

Wade Delk, NCBDE Governmental Affairs

www.ncbde.org

Mary Ann Hodorowicz, RD, CDE, MBA, Certified Endocrinology Coder
PresentDiabetes Author of MNT and DSMT Reimbursement Audio Lectures

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