ACNP Announces Public Policy Agenda
Recently, the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) released the 2004 ACNP Public Policy Agenda, a comprehensive list of the College's legislative priorities over the next year.
ACNP's annual Public Policy Agenda is set and approved by the organization's membership at the National Nurse Practitioner Summit in Washington, D.C. ACNP's Public Policy Committee is charged with refining the agenda's final version into a document that prioritizes the advocacy activities of the College and the membership.
To view the 2004 ACNP Public Policy Agenda, visit the ACNP Web site and the Public Policy section at http://www.nurse.org/acnp/leg/index.shtml.
The 2005 ACNP National Nurse Practitioner Summit will be held April 4-7, 2005, at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington D.C. For additional information, visit http://www.acnpweb.org.
Chronic Care Programs May Save Costs
Hundreds of thousands of older and disabled Americans will soon be offered coordinated care to manage their chronic illnesses. Ten Medicare chronic care programs are expected to launch by the end of the year, according to a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The government hopes that by regularly monitoring people with diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, and other chronic diseases, they can prevent a medical crisis that could send patients to the hospital.
Most health care dollars are spent on the chronically ill. Companies that coordinate care must show at least a 5% drop in the cost of health care claims or risk not getting paid.
FDA Outlines Diet Pill Enforcement Plan
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently outlined a science-based approach to protecting American consumers from unsafe dietary supplements.
As of April, the FDA inspected 180 domestic dietary supplement manufacturers; sent 119 warning letters to dietary supplement distributors; refused entry to 1,171 foreign shipments of dietary supplements; and seized or supervised voluntary destruction of almost $18 million worth of mislabeled or adulterated products.
In March, the FDA requested that 23 companies cease distributing dietary supplements containing androstenedione, which are marketed to stimulate testosterone and muscle growth, but have anabolic steroid effects on the body.
Over the next several months, the FDA will provide additional information to explain and implement the tools available to the agency under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) to guard against unsafe supplements and false or misleading supplement labeling claims. FDA is also developing regulations for industry on good manufacturing practices. When finalized, this rule, proposed last spring, will help protect consumers from dietary supplements that contain impurities or contaminants as a result of how they are manufactured or handled.
Fluoride to Prevent Children's Cavities
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According to the U.S. Preventive Task Force, primary care providers (PCPs) who practice in areas where the water supply is deficient in fluoride should prescribe oral fluoride supplements to preschool children over the age of 6 months. Dental cavities are a common childhood problem affecting as many as 19% of children between ages 2 and 5, and more than one-half of children ages 5 to 9.
Current dosage recommendations are based on the fluoride level of the local community's water supply, and are available online at http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/tables.asp. Information on the fluoride content in a local community's water supply can be requested from local health departments. It is important for PCPs to know the fluoride levels in their patients' primary water supply before providing fluoride supplements to avoid over-supplementation that can lead to fluorosis, which typically leads to mild tooth discoloration.
The Task Force did not find adequate evidence that risk assessment for dental caries performed by primary care clinicians resulted in fewer cavities among young children. Evidence was insufficient to recommend for or against routine risk assessment for dental disease in preschool children by PCPs.