CA Diabetes Care and Education Specialists Meet with Their Legislators in Sacramento

On October 17, members of the California Coordinating Body (CA CB) hosted a legislative fly-in at the CA state capitol in Sacramento. As part of this fly-in, diabetes care and education specialists from CA and NV took part in an advocacy training and then headed to the capitol to meet with their legislators. CA advocates have been active in building support for AB 848, legislation that would provide Medicaid (Medi-Cal) coverage for continuous glucose monitors.

This legislation passed the CA legislature in late August. Unfortunately, CA Governor Newsom vetoed the legislation recommending that this legislation be taken through the budget process. The purpose of the state capitol day was to thank legislators for supporting this legislation and to start to plan for future legislative action. This event also provided diabetes care and education specialists with a platform to get to know their legislators and talk about the issues important to them. Planning a day at your state capitol, either by scheduling legislative meetings or hosting an informational event, can be a great way to raise awareness for diabetes-related policy issues. For more information about planning this type of event, contact Kate Thomas.

  

Building Congressional Support for the Expanding Access to DSMT Act

AADE advocates have been working to build congressional support for the Expanding Access to Diabetes Self-Management Training (DSMT) Act (H.R. 1840/S. 814).  As a result of those efforts, there are currently over 50 cosponsors on the House bill and 11 on the Senate bill.  AADE is pushing to increase the number of supporters of this legislation and is urging all AADE members to send a letter to their legislators throughAADE’s Legislative Action Center. Our recent cosponsors have primarily been Democrats, so we are specifically looking to build our list of Republican cosponsors to maintain a balance of bipartisan support. AADE and the Diabetes Advocacy Alliance (DAA) have been conducting outreach to Republicans in key offices, including those that hold positions on the Senate Finance, House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees, and those in leadership. We hope you can help with this effort. Contact your legislators today!

As a reminder, this legislation seeks to improve utilization of the Medicare DSMT benefit by removing several barriers that currently exist including: limitations on the number of hours available; allowing medical nutrition therapy and DSMT to be provided on the same day; removing patient cost-sharing; broadening the type of provider who can refer a patient to DSMT; and clarifying agency policy related to hospital outpatient department based DSMT programs.

 

Telehealth Legislation Introduced in Congress: Learn More about the CONNECT for Health Act of 2019

On October 30, U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hi), Roger Wicker (R-MS.), Ben Cardin (D-MD), John Thune (R-SD), Mark Warner (D-VA.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) introduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2019 (S. 2741). This bipartisan legislation seeks to promote higher quality care, increase access to care, and decrease spending in Medicare by expanding telehealth services under the program. Key provisions include allowing the Secretary of HHS to waive telehealth restrictions during national emergencies, disasters, and public health emergencies, establishing a model to test allowing additional health professionals to provide telehealth services, and allowing for emergency medical services to be provided via telehealth. AADE signed on as an endorsing organization of this legislation. Click here to learn more about this legislation or visit the Legislative Action Center to send a letter to your Senators asking them to support the bill.

 

Application Process Live for CMS New Primary Care First Payment Model

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Primary Care First Request for Applications (RFA) is now live. Primary Care First is a new alternative payment model that offers an innovative payment structure to support the delivery of advanced primary care. There is a specific focus for practices that care for individuals with complex chronic care needs. The application period for practices applying to begin participation in the model in January 2021 will open on October 24, 2019 and close on January 22, 2020. Visit CMS’ Primary Care First Model website for more information. As diabetes care and education specialists continue to support the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, this is one model that seeks to shape the delivery of primary care to improve quality, improve the patient experience of care, and reduce costs.