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 56 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 through AADE’s Legislative Action Center.  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.

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, Energy and Commerce Committees, and those in leadership.  We hope you can help with this effort. Contact your legislators today!