September 30, 2004
Childhood Obesity
ACPM staff attended the press conference on the release
of the Institute of Medicine’s report, Preventing
Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. The panel
stressed that the solution to this epidemic would be
long term and need to involve all facets of society,
including healthcare, schools, parents, advertisers,
architects, builders and legislators at all levels of
government. The full report is available from the
National Academic Press at
www.nap.edu.
September 29,2004
Medicare Changes
ACPM staff attended a briefing by Mark McClellan, MD,
CMS Administrator. He focused on recent changes in
Medicare and especially the new prescription drug
benefit. The question and answer format allowed audience
members to voice concern over the complexity of the new
rules and the difficulty in obtaining health insurance
by a large portion of the population. Dr. McClellan
stated that CMS wants feedback from providers and
patients as the new regulations are implemented so the
system can be evaluated.
September 28, 2004
Research to Prevention Coalition – Budgeting Process
ACPM staff attended Research to Prevention Coalition
meeting. Norris Cochran, Program Examiner for the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), presented on the
program evaluation process and how OMB uses PART
(Program Assessment Rating Tool) to make recommendations
concerning specific programs. These ratings are only a
part of the information Congress uses to make
appropriations. The metrics used to evaluate programs
are negotiated between OMB and the programs. There was
a lively discussion on the difficulty in identifying
meaningful metrics especially in the short term when
dealing with prevention and chronic diseases. Hank
Moore of the Sonnenschein firm gave an overview of the
current budget process and the need for health advocates
to be very proactive. He felt that financial
constraints and partisanship made it necessary to have
more than one “champion” in Congress for one’s program.
He recommended targeting all branches of government when
promoting healthcare funding.
September 28, 2004
Bright Futures
ACPM thanks Myron Genel for agreeing to serve as
ACPM’s representative on the American Academy of
Pediatrics Bright Futures Project Advisory Committee.
Dr. Genel is the Associate Dean at the Yale School of
Medicine.
September 27, 2004
Examining Health Care: The Public’s Prescription
ACPM staff attended a roundtable discussion sponsored by
the Kettering Foundation on the results of Citizen
Forums held around the country to hear the public’s
concern about health care. F. Douglas Scutchfield, MD,
past ACPM president, was the co-moderator, and Dr. John
Nelson, president of the AMA, was on the roundtable.
The difficulty that patients perceive in negotiating the
health system was a major concern expressed.
September 27, 2004
Report on Uninsured
ACPM staff attended the presentation of the Kaiser
Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured that
focused on the changes in health insurance coverage
during the economic downturn of 2000-2003. The majority
of newly uninsured are young working poor who do not
have a safety net similar to that provided for the
elderly through Medicare and for children through
Medicaid and other government programs. One topic of
discussion was the “fraying” of our employer-based
health insurance system and the need for significant
policy changes to avoid increasing the number of
uninsured, even in a booming economy. Some debate
occurred on whether the best approach is to stimulate
the employer-based system or shift incentives to
individually-owned policies obtained by individuals or
through groups and associations.
September 27, 2004
Correctional Health
ACPM thanks Donald C. Kern for agreeing to serve
as ACPM’s representative to the National Commission on
Correctional Health Care. Dr. Kern serves as Medical
Director, Correctional Health Services, for the New York
City Department of Health.
September 27, 2004
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Thanks to
Robert Wallace
for reviewing on behalf of the College the draft
Recommendation Statement, “Hormone Replacement Therapy,”
developed by the United States Preventive Services Task
Force. Dr. Wallace is Professor of Epidemiology and
Internal Medicine in the
College of Public Health
at the
University of Iowa.
September 23, 2004
CDC’s New Budget Structure
ACPM staff attended a briefing held at the office of
the National Association of County and City Health
Officials (NACCHO). CDC personnel discussed the CDC
“Futures Initiative.” The focus was on the new
alignment of programs for budgeting purposes. Through
these changes CDC hopes to standardize procedures,
better identify money spent directly on programs, and
increase efficiency. The pros and cons of centralizing
functions were discussed.
September 22, 2004
Medicare Prevention Benefits
Thanks to Steven Woolf for reviewing and
developing the written comments on behalf of ACPM,
Partnership for Prevention, and American Academy of
Family Practitioners on the draft CMS physician payment
rule, which included proposed regulations governing the
new Welcome to Medicare preventive visit as well as new
cholesterol and diabetes screening benefits.
September 17, 2004
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Thanks to
Robert A. Anderson
for reviewing on behalf of ACPM the USDA’s draft report
of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
