February 22, 2005
Screening
for HIV
Thanks to Guthrie Birkhead for reviewing on
behalf of the College the draft Recommendation
Statement, “Screening for HIV,” developed by the United
States Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Birkhead has
served as the Director of the AIDS Institute at the New
York State Department of Health since 1995. He is also
an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the School of
Public Health, University at Albany, State University of
New York.
February 22, 2005
Dr.
Gerberding’s State of the CDC Report
ACPM staff attended this
event at the National Press Club where Dr. Julie
Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, highlighted the agency’s achievements
and lessons learned in 2004 and outlined goals for
2005. Dr. Gerberding cited such achievements as
improved customer service, the highest childhood
immunization rates ever, the lowest teen smoking rates
in US history, the VERB campaign to increase physical
activity among 9 and 10 year olds, the Get Smart program
to decrease antibiotic resistance, the Wise Woman
program, and the implementation of rapid HIV tests with
a view toward routine HIV testing. She also
characterized the handling of the flu vaccine shortage
as a success.
Dr. Gerberding described
some lessons learned in 2004: that people want CDC to do
more and to involve them in CDC’s activities; that CDC
must collaborate more with research organizations to
establish more evidence to guide the agency’s actions;
that CDC needs to leverage its resources better, i.e. by
making programs successful, not just handing out money;
that the people and departments of CDC need to work
together better to always be more, rather than less,
than the sum of the agency’s parts; and that CDC must
continue to improve customer service.
Dr. Gerberding highlighted
two overarching goals of CDC: (1.) To achieve the
optimal lifespan for people by bringing CDC’s guidance
and recommendations to people in a holistic way. (2.)
Preparedness, i.e. to protect people from threats to
their health and wellbeing.
February 14, 2005
Partners for Effective Tobacco Policy (PARTNERS) Meeting
ACPM staff attended this meeting. Among the items
discussed was the failure of the House of
Representatives to pass a piece of legislation that
would have given the Food and Drug Administration
authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and
sale of tobacco products in order to protect public
health.
An update was given on the
status of the 1999 Dept. of Justice Lawsuit, which
alleges that tobacco companies engaged in illegal
activities, including marketing to children, refusal to
admit consequences of second-hand smoke, and concealing
documents. The court ruled that disgorgement of the
tobacco companies’ profits from these illegal activities
is not an available remedy. However, the remedies that
PARTNERS believes to be most important, e.g. forcing the
companies to change their marketing practices, remain on
the table.
PARTNERS members were
updated on the status of the class action reform
legislation that would prevent many types of class
action lawsuits, including tobacco class action suits,
from being tried in state courts, restricting them to
hearings in federal courts, which are generally less
open to hearing such suits. The legislation passed the
Senate and is expected to pass the House as well.
PARTNERS staff presented
for members’ review a draft letter to Congress listing
the Coalition’s priority issues. These issues include:
(1.) supporting FDA authority to regulate tobacco
products, (2.) urging Congress to enact legislation
requiring that all federally funded health care programs
reimburse for tobacco cessation treatment, (3.)
recommending a minimum funding level of $130 million for
the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, (4.) urging
legislative action to curb internet and mail-order sales
of tobacco products (because these sales methods make
tobacco products accessible to children and evade
taxation), and (5.) asking Congress to update and
strengthen laws against tobacco smuggling.
February
10, 2005
Briefing
on Proposed Fiscal Year 2006 CDC Budget
ACPM staff attended this
briefing put on by Research to Prevention (R2P) and the
CDC’s Office of Financial Management for CDC Coalition
member organizations. The purpose was to summarize and
explain CDC’s anticipated budget for FY 2006 based on
the Bush administration’s budget request. The
President’s budget request calls for $7.5 billion in
funding for CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR); this constitutes a $491
million cut from FY 2005. The CDC programs that are
slated to receive funding increases are the Section 317
Program (influenza only: +$50 million), the Global
Disease Detection Program (+$12 million), the Strategic
National (vaccines) Stockpile (+$203 million), and the
Vaccines for Children Program (+$7 million). Programs
to be eliminated are the Preventive Health & Health
Services Block Grant, the Youth Media Campaign (VERB),
anthrax research, and one-time projects. CDC programs
and activities that will suffer major funding cuts
include terrorism state/local cooperative agreements,
the Public Health Information Network, and buildings and
facilities. The Coalition plans to ask Congress for
$8.65 billion for FY 2006 CDC funding.
February 9, 2005
Health
Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC)
Meeting
ACPM staff attended this HPNEC meeting, which focused on
President Bush’s budget request for fiscal year 2006.
There was discussion about the President’s zeroing out
of all health professions programs in Title VII of the
Public Health Service Act, except $10 million for
Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students and $1 million
for Workforce Information and Analysis. Funding for
Title VIII programs remain basically unchanged from FY
2005. Proposed funding for Title VII and VII programs
together is $161 million, compared to $450 million in FY
2005. HPNEC issued a press release on February 8
stating that the President’s cuts “will irreparably harm
the nation’s health care safety net” because the Title
VII and VIII programs are designed to train a workforce
to care for underserved populations. HPNEC is asking
Congress for $550 million for Title VII and VIII
programs in FY 2006.
In addition, the group
discussed planning for Capitol Hill visits in March to
advocate for increased funding, and a Function 550 lunch
activity entitled “Public Health 101” will be held for
legislative staffers on March 4. HPNEC is also
organizing a Hill Day in late April. Finally, there was
discussion about attempting to frame the Title VII and
VIII funding request in the context of the need to train
a workforce to staff the community health centers which
President Bush is promoting.
February 4, 2005
Screening
for Gonorrhea
Thanks to Cornelis Rietmeijer for reviewing on
behalf of the College the draft Recommendation
Statement, “Screening for Gonorrhea,” developed by the
United States Preventive Services Task Force. Dr.
Rietmeijer is Director of the Sexually Transmitted
Disease Control Program at the Denver Public Health
Department. He has over 20 years of medical and public
health experience with STDs.
February 3-4, 2005
Childhood Obesity
Thanks to Jim Guillory for representing ACPM on an
AMA-sponsored Expert Committee to develop
recommendations on the assessment, prevention, and
treatment of child and youth overweight and obesity.
The committee, also co-sponsored by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources
and Services Administration, met for the first time on
February 3-4 in Chicago, IL. Dr. Guillory is taking the
lead, in conjunction with ACPM’s Prevention Practice
Committee, in organizing writing groups that will
address: (1) Assessing/diagnosing excess weight in
children; (2) Treatment of excess weight in children;
(3) Prevention of excess weight in children; and
possibly, (4) Coding and billing issues related to
excess weight in children.
GME Funding Strategy
In February, ACPM staff continued to meet with
congressional staff to discuss a line-item funding
strategy for Preventive Medicine graduate medical
education. ACPM met with staff from Senators Cochrane
and Hutchinson as well as from Representative Regula’s
offices. The ACPM ad hoc steering committee was also
convened during ACPM’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
