UCSF Offers Diabetes Education Program to Bay Area Businesses

The Honorable _________________________________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC   20515

Dear _________________________

On behalf of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), the ________________ (State) chapter of diabetes educators, and the patients with diabetes who we serve, we would like to request your co-sponsorship and active support of H.R. 2425, the Medicare Diabetes Self Management Training Act of 2009.   The significant provisions from this bipartisan bill were adopted unanimously by voice vote as part of the recent House Energy and Commerce mark up of its health care reform bill, and we urge Members of Congress to continue to show their interest and support for diabetes education by cosponsoring H.R. 2425, in order to ensure its retention in the final health reform package.

AADE is a multi-disciplinary professional membership organization dedicated to advancing the practice of diabetes self-management training and education (DSMT) as integral components of health care for persons with diabetes, as well as lifestyle management for the prevention of diabetes for those at high risk.  AADE currently has 96 local chapters and 19 specialty practice groups, and represents more than 14,000 members, including nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, physicians, social workers, exercise physiologists and other members of the diabetes teaching team.

As a member of the Blue Dog coalition, we appreciate the challenges you face in developing a workable and fiscally responsible approach to health care reform. As you continue your efforts once Congress reconvenes, we would like to point out that H.R. 2425 has virtually no budgetary impact, is bipartisan, and has no opposition. This small, but important, bill simply ensures that state licensed or registered health care professionals, who attain additional credentialing as "Certified Diabetes Educators", are included as providers of DSMT.

It is well recognized that diabetes is among the top public health threats in the U.S. today, with 24 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes, and another 57 million with pre-diabetes. DSMT is a critical tool in the fight against diabetes, and this legislation will help ensure quality DSMT services for our nation's Medicare beneficiaries, and greater access to care for individuals living with diabetes.  From an actuarial standpoint, virtually all credible studies on diabetes, including the most recent study published in August 2009; show that patients who participate in diabetes education have better clinical outcomes than those of similar risk who do not participate. And, the financial costs of health insurance claims for patients who participate in diabetes education are lower than those of a matched cohort of patients who do not. 

In short, diabetes education has been shown to 'bend the cost curve' for federal health care expenditures, an important issue in these times of escalating budget deficits.

H.R. 2425 is one of the top 2009 priorities of the House Diabetes Caucus. For this reason, we respectfully request that you cosponsor H.R. 2425 to help ensure that the diabetes education language will remain in any final House health reform bill. If you have questions or need additional information, please feel free to call the AADE Washington, DC office (202-624-1510), or call Heather Foster in Rep. DeGette's office (202-225-4431) to add your name as a cosponsor.

Sincerely,

__________________________________
Signature
Chapter President

__________________________________
Signature
Chapter Legislative Coordinator