Legislation to create national diabetes commission

A National Diabetes Care Commission will be established if new legislation introduced in the US Senate is passed.

“The National Diabetes Clinical Care Commission Act” was introduced in late July by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the co-chairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus. A similar bill was also recently introduced in the US House of Representatives.

The Commission would evaluate all of the government’s current approaches to diabetes care, provide recommendations on improvements, and possibly consolidate existing approaches to help leverage the federal investment in diabetes research. The Commission is expected to be comprised of endocrinologists and other healthcare providers who work directly with diabetes patients, along with patient advocates and representatives from federal agencies.

“There is a recognition in the diabetes community that continuation of the status quo is unacceptable. Doing nothing or even doing more of the same will not reverse the arc of worsening diabetes prevalence and complications, which will ultimately overwhelm the entire healthcare system with devastating numbers of patients….” said Alan Garber, MD, PhD, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

The bill is also supported by the American Diabetes Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and several other health groups.