ASHLEY NOVAK

The health policy and proposed bill I selected is the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2019. This bill was introduced into the house in March of 2019. This bill would expand Medicare coverage of intensive behavioral therapy for obesity. It would allow coverage for therapy by physician assistants and nurse practitioners. This therapy is currently only covered if being provided by a primary care practitioner (Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2019, 2019). It specifically exciting for me considering I am going to school for PMHNP.

Obesity is a huge problem in the United States and has been steadily increasing. As one of the leading causes of preventable death in the U.S., there is plenty of evidence that this bill and policy needs to be supported. People that are obese have a decreased quality of life and many other health conditions. One study estimated the medical costs of obesity to be $342.2 billion (America’s Health Rankings, 2019). I believe this is significant enough to support more behavioral therapy for patients.

As people reach for diets and surgery to decrease obesity, a main piece of the puzzle is also missing. There have been numerous studies showing that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has helped treat obesity. One study looked at how telephone-based CBT would affect female patients one year after bariatric surgery. It was noted that CBT can improve eating psychopathology and psychological distress before and after weight loss surgery. The results also demonstrated that it also may improve binge eating, emotional eating, anxiety, and depression (Sockalingam et al., 2019). I personally believe CBT has many benefits and giving more options for Medicare patients would hopefully decrease obesity and there is an extensive evidence base to support.

References

America’s Health Rankings. (2019). Obesity in the United States.

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Obesity/state/ALL

Sockalingam, S., Leung, S. E., Hawa, R., Wnuk, S., Parikh, S. V., Jackson, T., & Cassin, S. E. (2019). Telephone-based cognitive

behavioural therapy for female patients 1-year post-bariatric surgery: A pilot study. Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, 13(5),

499–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2019.07.003

Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2019, H.R. 1530, 116th Cong. (2019). https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-

bill/1530?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22obesity%22%5D%7D&s=6&r=1

Mandy Sikorski

RE: Discussion – Week 7COLLAPSE

The policy that I have chosen for this week’s discussion is S.3380, the Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020. This bill requires that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review and act upon health care-associated infections, antimicrobial stewardship, and patient safety (S.3380- Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020, 2020). Patient safety has been an ongoing issue through time. In 2005, there was a Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 statute and rule that created a voluntary system that would review patient safety and quality of care issues (Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 Statute and Rule, 2017). This act also made it possible for HHS to fine people or organizations for any violations of patient safety confidentiality (Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 Statute and Rule, 2017).

S.3380 is designed to not only assess patient safety, but also reviews health care-associated infections and antimicrobial stewardship, which are two leading causes to becoming ill within the hospital setting. This is a reoccurring problem that we have faced in healthcare and action must be taken to help slow down these infections and resistance of antibiotics. From the perspective of patient safety, S.3380 makes it mandatory that patient safety topics are part of becoming licensed and reporting patient safety concerns (S.3380- Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020, 2020).

The development of this bill is to amend already existing federal laws in order to make state laws stronger in order to help assist in combating patient safety, health care-associated infections, and antimicrobial stewardship (Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020, 2020). I believe that there is a sufficient evidence base to support this act as health care-associated infections have continued to grow just as antibiotic resistance has. By this act assisting with antimicrobial stewardship and helping health care providers with this, we can decrease the infection rate while also reducing the resistance of antibiotics used in infections (Antimicrobial Stewardship, n.d.). There can never be too much safety when it comes to our patients, this is one of the first things that we think of when interacting with them. By making it mandatory to have education on patient safety in order to obtain licensure, this is something small that can go a long way.

References

Antimicrobial Stewardship. (n.d.). Retrieved from Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology: https://apic.org/professional-practice/practice-resources/antimicrobial-stewardship/

Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 Statute and Rule. (2017, June 16). Retrieved from HHS.gov: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/patient-safety/statute-and-rule/index.html

Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020. (2020, March 25). Retrieved from Patient Safety Network: https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/patient-safety-improvement-act-2020

S.3380- Patient Safety Improvement Act of 2020. (2020). Retrieved from Congress.gov: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3380?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22healthcare%22%5D%7D&r=57&s=7

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