Presentation for Call

Major clinical trials show that with comprehensive and effective treatment, patients can avoid the painful and costly complications of diabetes—such as blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage—that often develop over a longer period of time. When considering these issues, the Congressional Budget Office looks only at a 10-year window of time. It doesn’t capture the health improvements—and thus potential savings—that accrue over the course of many years. The true value and benefits of early interventions to avoid costly complications often do not manifest within that time period.

To address this knowledge gap, the National Changing Diabetes Program (NCDP) supported a study conducted by Michael O’Grady, Ph.D. and a team of researchers from the University of Chicago that led to the new scoring model published recently in Health Affairs. This new model provides accurate, scientific analysis of long-term costs and benefits associated with early treatment and disease prevention, specifically for diabetes.  In addition, on July 9th,The Preventive Health Savings Act of 2009 (HR 3148), was introduced by Representative Donna Christensen (D-VI), with the support of Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and 42 bipartisan co-sponsors.  HR 3148 will update existing budget law by directing CBO to provide information on the savings of preventive health, when projected based upon solid data, both during and beyond the existing 10-year scoring window.

Join us for an informative discussion on scoring, moderated by Jim Frogue who leads the CHT State Project. Additionally, we will be joined by special guest speakers: