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Bone Health Advocacy
E-News Winter
2008 In this
issue:
Patient Access to Osteoporosis
Testing During the past year, NOF and
its advocates urged Congress to remedy the drastic reductions in Medicare
reimbursement for specialized osteoporosis tests so vital to osteoporosis
prevention, diagnosis and treatment. As a result of these cuts,
slated to continue through 2010, many physicians say that they will be
unable to continue offering dual energy x-ray absorptiomety (DXA) tests
for osteoporosis, threatening access to quality healthcare for
osteoporosis patients. Unfortunately, Congress, with
limited time and money, did not address this issue before it went
home. As a result of the work Congress did not complete in 2007,
osteoporosis advocates have a full agenda for 2008.
As you may be aware in Fall
2007, Representative Shelly Berkley introduced the “Medicare Fracture
Prevention and Osteoporosis Testing Act of 2007” (H.R. 4206) which would
roll back Medicare reimbursement for DXA testing to the 2006 level and
require the Institute of Medicine to report on the consequences of reduced
reimbursement and provide recommendations for increasing osteoporosis
testing, which currently is severely
under-utilized. We urge you to ask your
Members of Congress to protect patient access to quality osteoporosis
healthcare. Please tell your family, friends and colleagues to join
us. For additional information
and to contact your Members of Congress automatically, click here to
log on to www.nof.org/advocacy.
Research
Funding After vetoing the initial bill
Congress sent to him because it was too expensive, the President signed
subsequent legislation passed by Congress for 2008, which includes health
funding. The National Institutes of Health received less than one percent
increase, for a total of $29.2 billion. Although overall this is a
large sum, the increase does not equal the inflationary costs of research,
thus limiting new grants. As a result, osteoporosis research
funding is predicted to remain static at $168 million. Nonetheless,
we are pleased to report that Congress successfully funded the National
Children’s Study, which will include assessments of bone growth.
The Department of Defense bone
research program, for which NOF advocates strongly, will continue to be
funded, but as a result of an across-the-board 20 percent reduction, it
will be supported at only $800,000. We will keep you posted on how
you can help advocate for bone research to improve the quality of life of
those with or at risk for osteoporosis. Advocacy
Training On November 1st, NOF partnered
with the Rhode Island Osteoporosis Coalition to bring the “Strong Voices
for Strong Bones Advocacy Training Meeting” to the Below is
the panel of speakers who discussed barriers to osteoporosis prevention
and healthcare and how to overcome
them:
Attendees were provided with
tips for effective communication to help them build long-term
relationships with elected officials and techniques for ongoing
advocacy. They also were provided with current policy information,
opportunities for small group discussions and role-playing as well as
voicing their views and networking (below).
NOF looks forward to working
with other communities as it continues its advocacy training
program. If you would like to opt-out
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