THIS ISSUE AVAILABLE ONLINE WITH EXPANDED INFORMATION AND PHOTOS AT:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/newsletter/weekly
IN THIS ISSUE:
1) Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card Savings Now Available
2) Secretary Thompson, Seeking Fastest Possible Results, Names First Health Information Technology Coordinator
3) PREVENTION: Average Blood Pressure Levels On Rise Among American Children/Teenagers - New Practice Guidelines To Be Issued
4) Medicare Minute
5) Secretary Thompson's Public Schedule
Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card Savings Now Available
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced Monday that seniors and people with disabilities who receive Medicare can now begin to compare and choose the Medicare-approved drug discount card that best fits their needs in providing savings on their prescription medicines. The new cards are expected to offer Medicare beneficiaries discounts on their prescription drugs of between 10 and 25 percent. Low-income beneficiaries may also receive a credit of up to $600 each year in 2004 and 2005 to help pay for their prescriptions.
Beginning Monday, May 3 private organizations began marketing their Medicare-approved discount cards to people with Medicare and beneficiaries are now able to compare cards and enroll in the one they choose. Medicare is providing a new Price Comparison Web site at www.Medicare.gov, on which industry drug prices are being posted for the first time.
Secretary Thompson said the drug discount cards are an important new way for seniors to save money on their prescriptions, and he encouraged people with Medicare to shop and compare the prices offered by various cards. Secretary Thompson said competition between card sponsors will work to drive down prices even further, particularly in the first couple weeks of the program -- providing an even greater opportunity for seniors to save.
“The power to save on prescription drugs is now in hands of seniors and people with disabilities,” Secretary Thompson said. “This is a first. Industry is competing on-line for the business of millions of Medicare beneficiaries and those beneficiaries have now pooled their purchasing power to demand the best price.
“Seniors should compare prices and choose the card that’s best for them,” Secretary Thompson said. “Help in comparing cards is only a phone call away to 1-800-MEDICARE, where a customer service representative will send beneficiaries a personalized comparison of cards available to them for the drugs they take.”
Secretary Thompson particularly urged low-income seniors who may qualify for the $600 credit in addition to the discounts to participate in the drug card program. The discount card program is providing unprecedented assistance to low-income seniors and persons with disabilities to pay for their medicines, he said.
“Those in greatest need will receive the most help from the drug discount card program,” Secretary Thompson said. “Seniors and their caregivers should pursue whether they are eligible for the $600 credit and avail themselves of this helpful new benefit.”
In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that low-income Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in state pharmacy assistance programs that provide discounts on prescriptions drugs may, at the state’s option, be automatically enrolled for the $600 credit on a Medicare-approved drug discount card. States that have the authority to act as an “authorized representative” of a beneficiary (as defined by state law) will be permitted to enroll beneficiaries in drug discount cards on the beneficiary’s behalf. This step will make it easier for low-income beneficiaries in states with pharmacy assistance programs to get $600 in additional help.
A complete press release is available at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040503.html
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Secretary Thompson, Seeking Fastest Possible Results, Names First Health Information Technology Coordinator
Saying that "health information technology has the potential to greatly improve health care even as it yields huge savings," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced the appointment of David J. Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., to serve as National Health Information Technology Coordinator. This is a new position at HHS, created by President Bush last week to coordinate the nation's health information technology efforts.
Secretary Thompson announced the appointment at a Secretarial Summit on health information technology (IT) in Washington on Thursday.
"Health information technology promises huge benefits, and we need to move quickly across many fronts to capture these benefits," Secretary Thompson said. "We met with leaders of the health IT community at this summit to see how we can press down on the accelerator and bring about the benefits of health IT even faster. The benefits are enormous, but the task is also enormously complex. We need more than a business-as-usual approach."
At the summit, Secretary Thompson also announced several new accomplishments in developing standards to help bring about electronic medical records and other health IT benefits:
HHS and other federal agencies will adopt 15 additional standards agreed to by the Consolidated Health Informatics (CHI) initiative to allow for the electronic exchange of clinical health information across the federal government.
HHS also announced that, starting Thursday, the medical vocabulary known as SNOMED CT can be downloaded for free for use in the United States through HHS' National Library of Medicine. SNOMED CT, created by the College of American Pathologists, is a key clinical language standard needed for a national health information infrastructure.
With HHS support, the voluntary international health standards-setting organization known as Health Level 7 (HL7) Thursday announced a favorable vote on a functional model and standards for the electronic health record. The model is a significant step toward establishing nationwide guidelines for electronic health records.
Thursday’s actions move the nation closer to a national, interoperable health information infrastructure that would allow quick, reliable and secure access to information needed for patient care, while protecting patient privacy. Such a system would allow a doctor or health care provider to access an always-up-to-date electronic health record of a patient who has agreed to be part of the system, regardless of when and where the patient receives care. President Bush last week established a national goal of assuring that most Americans have electronic health records within 10 years.
For a complete press release, please log onto http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040506.html
More information about HHS' efforts to promote health IT is available at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040427a.html.
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PREVENTION
Average Blood Pressure Levels On Rise Among American Children/Teenagers - New Practice Guidelines To Be Issued
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels for children and teenagers have risen substantially since 1988, according to a new study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study links part of the rise to a concurrent increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity.
The study — "Trends in Blood Pressure Among Children and Adolescents" — appeared in the May 5, 2004 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study was conducted by researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, and the NHLBI in Bethesda, MD.
"The obesity-related rise in blood pressure among American children is a serious health issue," said NHLBI Acting Director Dr. Barbara Alving. "We need to take steps to reverse this trend. One key step is to give physicians tools that can help them deal with this problem, which is why we're issuing these new guidelines." High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and the chief risk factor for stroke.
The systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases between the two surveys were large and occurred for all age and race/ethnic groups, and both genders. The systolic pressure increased by 1.4 mm Hg and the diastolic by 3.3 mm Hg from 1988-94 to 1999-2000. Even after adjusting for BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 1 and 2.9 mm Hg higher, respectively, in 1999-2000, compared with 1988-94. This suggests that lifestyle factors other than overweight, such as physical activity and specific dietary nutrients, were also involved in the trends.
The new guidelines describe hypertension and prehypertension as significant health issues in the young due to the marked increase in the prevalence of overweight children. Overweight and high blood pressure are components of the insulin resistance syndrome, a combination of multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the guidelines call for a comprehensive assessment of cardiovascular risk factors. The new guidelines, noting the association of high blood pressure and overweight with sleep apnea, also suggest that a history of sleeping patterns should be obtained in a child with hypertension.
Treatment for children with high blood pressure usually consists of lifestyle changes, including weight management, physical activity, and dietary changes. Drug therapy is used if needed. The revised guidelines incorporate recent research and present updated recommendations for lifestyle approaches, such as dietary changes for children and adolescents who have prehypertension as well as hypertension. Revised drug recommendations include dosage recommendations for many of the newer drugs studied in recent clinical trials.
"We want to give our children the best possible start in life," said Alving. "That means insuring they have a healthy blood pressure and weight. We need to teach them to be physically active and to follow a heart-healthy eating plan. Otherwise, we may be giving them an early start on heart disease."
For a complete press release, please go to: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2004/nhlbi-04.htm.
Tables from the new clinical practice guidelines on hypertension in children and adolescents are available at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/child_tbl.htm.
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Medicare Minute
HHS is reaching out to seniors and others who receive Medicare to inform them of the benefits of the Medicare-approved drug discount cards, including:
Issuing a detailed “Guide to Choosing a Medicare-Approved Drug Discount Card” that explains the program, including eligibility and enrollment information, and provides step-by-step guidance for comparing discount cards and choosing one. The booklet is now available at www.medicare.gov and through 1-800-MEDICARE.
Increasing funding for and working with SHIPs to provide one-on-one counseling and distribute educational material to people with Medicare to help them make choices. SHIP counselors are located at senior centers and other locations accessible to beneficiaries and their families to help them better understand Medicare and assist them with their particular concerns and choices of drug discount cards.
Continuing the 1-800-MEDICARE advertising campaign with a national television ad campaign of $18 million to inform people with Medicare about the discount cards and place an emphasis on explaining the $600 credit. The broader campaign also includes print and Internet advertising in both English and Spanish.
Mailing a shorter, overview publication directly to every Medicare household.
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Secretary Thompson's Public Schedule:
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Last updated: May 11, 2004
United States Department of Health and Human Services
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