Representative Pet Olson (R-TX) http://olson.house.gov reintroduced H.R.1192, the “National Diabetes Clinical Care Commission Act” www.congress.gov to streamline federal funding for diabetes research ensuring that federal tax dollars are targeted for maximum benefit to patients.
Olson’s bill would form the National Diabetes Clinical Care Commission to consult with federal agencies and assist in coordinating and directing diabetes clinical care policy. Healthcare professionals, patient advocates and representatives from various federal agencies such as CMS www.cms.gov, AHRQ www.ahrw.gov, CDC www.cdc.gov, HIS www.ihs.gov, FDA www.fda.gov, HRSA www.hrsa.gov, NIH www.nih.gov, DOD www.defense.gov, and the VA www.va.gov.
The agencies dealing with diabetes would be on the board to make recommendations to the Secretary of HHS and Congress on current policies and programs related to the quality of diabetes care and patient outcomes. The Board would also include clinical endocrinologists plus other physician specialties that play a role in diabetes care, such as cardiologists, nephrologists, and eye care professionals.
One of the duties of the Commission would be to make a series of recommendations. One of the recommendations would entail discussing clinical pathways for new technologies and treatments, including future data collection activities.
The recommendations would inform how these technologies and treatments may be developed to evaluate and develop various care models and methods. Also, the recommendations would have information on the impact of such models and methods related to the quality of care and diabetes management as measured by appropriate care parameters such as A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.