HHS announces $30 million in new resources to support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today(September 24) announced that CDC has allocated $30 million of the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund to expand HIV prevention efforts under the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). This includes $21.6 million in grants to state and local health departments. The funding will help to further focus HIV prevention on high risk populations and communities, as well as fill critical gaps in data, knowledge and understanding of the epidemic.

"This funding will give a critical boost to our HIV/AIDS prevention efforts across the country," said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "By focusing on communities and geographic areas that have been hardest hit by this disease, these critical investments will make a real impact on prevention efforts - a key part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy."

"The National HIV/AIDS Strategy gives us an opportunity to redefine our nation's approach to HIV prevention, and can help us take our collective efforts to the next level," said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. "We are pleased that this funding will allow those of us working in HIV prevention at the federal, state, and local level to support innovative, evidence-based and high-impact prevention efforts in line with recommendations from the strategy."

Grants totaling $11.6 million will support demonstration projects to identify and implement a "combination approach" to enhance effective HIV prevention programming in 12 hard-hit areas across the country. These efforts will both supplement existing programs in these communities and help jurisdictions to better focus efforts on key at-risk populations and fulfill unmet needs.

Under this program, each funded jurisdiction will work with CDC to determine what mix of HIV prevention approaches can have the greatest impact in the local area - at the individual, population, and community level - based on the local profile of the epidemic and by assessing and identifying current gaps in HIV prevention portfolios. While the exact combination of approaches will vary by area, efforts funded under this program will follow a basic approach of: intensifying prevention for individuals at greatest risk, along with testing those individuals to reduce undiagnosed HIV infection; prioritizing prevention and linkage to care for people living with HIV; and directing these intensified efforts to communities with the highest burden of HIV.

The twelve jurisdictions funded in the first year for these efforts include Chicago, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Houston, Los Angeles, Maryland, New York City, Philadelphia, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and Texas. The average award is approximately $960,000

Additional funding will allow CDC to expand upon successful existing efforts, as well as fill knowledge gaps to help guide evidence-based policies and approaches as a part of NHAS. Awards to state and local health departments include:

* Increasing HIV testing: $4.4 million from the Affordable Care Act will allow CDC to further expand its successful HIV testing initiative. The initiative began in 2007 to increase knowledge of HIV status primarily among African Americans, and was recently expanded to reach more hard-hit communities and populations at risk, including Latinos, men who have sex with men (MSM), and injection drug users. In the first two years of the program alone, more than 1.4 million Americans were tested, and more than 10,000 individuals were newly diagnosed.

* Filling critical data gaps: $5.6 million from the Affordable Care Act will enhance local area data collection, to provide critical information to better monitor and target future HIV prevention and treatment programs. Specifically, the new funds allow areas to monitor disease indicators among HIV-infected populations to better understand access to care, prevention, and treatment services.

The remainder of the funding is going to support additional activities for HIV prevention:

* Supporting evaluation for new activities: $6.6 million from the Affordable Care Act will support evaluation and monitoring of combination prevention approaches and other activities. Funding will also establish a web-based survey to quickly identify and respond to trends in risk behavior and exposure to HIV prevention services among men who have sex with men (MSM.)

* Prioritizing underserved populations: $1 million from the Affordable Care Act will support work with tribal communities to improve HIV prevention and program integration for American Indians/Alaska Natives.

While the exact eligibility criteria differed for each of the awards, the majority of the funding is directed toward geographic areas hard hit by the epidemic.

"While this funding represents an exciting new investment in HIV prevention, these efforts are just one important part of what is needed to implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and address the devastating impact that the epidemic has on many communities in the United States," said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. "Success will require a shared commitment and responsibility across the board, from CDC and other parts of the federal government and beyond. With far too many new infections occurring here each year - one new infection every nine and a half minutes - we must work together to ensure that the urgent HIV prevention needs in this country are met."

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

House Committee Approves Arthritis Bill

/PRNewswir/ -- The Arthritis Foundation announces a major step in passing bi-partisan arthritis legislation in more than 30 years. The Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act (H.R. 1210/S. 984) was approved today by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and will now go to the House of Representatives to vote on passage.

Bill sponsor U.S. Rep Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) urged the committee leadership to pass the bill in order to address arthritis, a disease that impacts one in five (46 million) Americans and 300,000 children and is the nation's most common cause of disability.

"I'm very proud that my bipartisan legislation has been passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill will provide states and non-profits the resources they need to tackle this debilitating disorder," Rep. Eshoo said. "It invests in the critical needs of children and adults suffering from arthritis, and in research that will alleviate the costs to future generations of Americans who are diagnosed. I'll continue to fight for this legislation until it's signed into law."

The Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act, when enacted, will better focus federally funded arthritis research, expand and strengthen public health initiatives proven to combat the burden of arthritis, and improve access to pediatric rheumatologists to address the country's severe shortage of these critical health professionals.

"The Arthritis Foundation is comprised of people all across this nation who have worked tirelessly over the past seven years to let Congress know that more needs to be done for people with arthritis," said Dr. John Klippel, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation. "Our grassroots advocates deserve to be recognized for reaching and successfully communicating this message to the majority of Congress." To date, 179 Representatives have joined as co-sponsors of the bill.

The Arthritis Foundation urges people to show support for this bill by calling their member of congress and becoming an advocate today.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

HHS Awards $31 million more for prevention and wellness projects

Funded by the Affordable Care Act of 2010

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced $31 million for awards to ten communities in eight states and one award to a state health department to support public health efforts to reduce obesity and smoking, increase physical activity and improve nutrition.
The awards funded by the Prevention and Public Health Fund included in the Affordable Care Act are part of the HHS Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) program, a comprehensive prevention and wellness initiative administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"As I've seen throughout the year in my work with Let's Move!, prevention works when it comes to improving the health of our families," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "These critical investments will help more communities across America tackle serious health challenges like childhood obesity, while promoting physical activity and healthy eating."

Today's announcement follows the release in February and March 2010 of more than $491.8 million in Communities Putting Prevention to Work funds to states, U.S territories and communities. Those projects are supporting statewide and community based policy and environmental changes in nutrition, physical activity, tobacco control, expanded tobacco quit lines, and cessation media campaigns.

"To realize our goals of improving the health of Americans and lowering our nation's health care costs, we must address the underlying factors that influence our families' health - factors like the foods we eat and the conditions that exist in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "With Communities Putting Prevention to Work, we're creating evidence-based models that we can replicate on a large scale to permanently reduce the chronic diseases plaguing so many of our communities."

These Communities Putting Prevention to Work awards will provide communities with the resources to create healthy choices for residents, such as increasing availability of healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free environments. Of the 11 new awards, ten are dedicated to obesity prevention efforts and one to tobacco cessation.

Currently, seven of ten deaths among Americans each year are caused by chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. These same chronic diseases account for more than 75% of our nation's health care spending.

HHS also announced $10 million in additional funding for six communities - all of which were part of the original 44 Communities Putting Prevention to Work communities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) - to provide mentoring to less experienced communities based on their previous success in specific policy strategies. Funding for the "Community Mentoring" initiative comes from ARRA.

Awards:

Communities Putting Prevention to Work Community Initiative

. $3.0 Million to Alabama Department of Health: Mobile County, Alabama for tobacco prevention
. $2.3 Million to Arkansas Department of Health: City of North Little Rock, Arkansas for obesity prevention; and Independence County, Arkansas for obesity prevention
. $5.8 Million to Children's Memorial Hospital / City of Chicago, Illinois for obesity prevention
. $2.35 Million to DeKalb County Board of Health, Georgia for obesity prevention
. $3.7 Million to North Carolina Division of Public Health: Appalachian District Health Department, North Carolina for obesity prevention; and Pitt County, North Carolina for obesity prevention
. $4.85 Million to Pinellas County Health Department, Florida for obesity prevention
. $3.6 Million to Santa Clara County Public Health Department, California for obesity prevention
. $3.8 Million to Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada for obesity prevention

Note: The five small city/rural awards are administered through three state departments of health (Alabama, Arkansas, and North Carolina).

Communities Putting Prevention to Work States and Territories Competitive Special Policy and Environmental Change Initiative

. $1.6 Million to South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for obesity prevention

-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Sebelius Announces New $250 Million Investment to Lay Foundation for Prevention and Public Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on June 18 announced $250 million in new Affordable Care Act investments to support prevention activities and develop the nation’s public health infrastructure.

Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths each year among Americans, and account for 75 percent of the nation’s health spending. Many Americans engage in behaviors such as tobacco use, poor diet, physical inactivity, and alcohol abuse, which harm their health.

“Investing in prevention and public health builds the foundation for improving the health and well-being of Americans, and for lowering costs in the health care system,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Investing in proven preventive services will help patients get the care they need early, avoiding costly and unnecessary care later. This prevention-focused approach is better for doctors, patients, and our national balance sheet.”

The investments announced today in prevention and public health are the second allocation for fiscal year 2010 from the new $500 million Prevention and Public Health fund created by the Affordable Care Act.

The $250 million investment in prevention and public health will go to:

* Community and Clinical Prevention: $126 million will support federal, state and community prevention initiatives; the integration of primary care services into publicly funded community-based behavioral health settings; obesity prevention and fitness; and tobacco cessation.
* Public Health Infrastructure: $70 million will support state, local, and tribal public health infrastructure and build state and local capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
* Research and Tracking: $31 million for data collection and analysis; to strengthen CDC’s Community Guide by supporting the Task Force on Community Preventive Services; and to improve transparency and public involvement in the Clinical Preventive Services Task Force.
* Public Health Training: $23 million to expand CDC’s public health workforce programs and public health training centers.

“With these investments, we are tackling the underlying causes of chronic diseases as well as strengthening our ability to meet the public health challenges of the 21st century,” said Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin. “This moves America in the direction of becoming a fit and healthy nation.”

Earlier this week, Secretary Sebelius announced the allocation of the first half of the Prevention and Public Health fund to increase the number of clinicians and strengthen the primary care workforce. Building on the earlier investments made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Affordable Care Act, particularly for the National Health Service Corps, the investments will support the training and development of more than 16,000 new primary care providers over the next five years.

With these investments and others, the Affordable Care Act is continuing the Obama Administration’s historic work to promote wellness and reduce chronic disease. The new law also calls for a national strategy to improve the nation’s health, eliminates co-pays for key preventive services like cancer screenings, and provides new support for employer wellness programs.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

$120 Million for States Made Available as Part of Recovery Act Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the release of $120 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for prevention and wellness programs for U.S. states and territories, building on the recent announcement of the $373 million funding opportunity for communities and tribes around the country. In all, the comprehensive Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative will make $650 million available for public health efforts to address obesity, increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and decrease smoking.

"Today's announcement is an important step toward a healthier America," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "We know that many chronic diseases are preventable, and the resources now available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will assist states and
territories in the implementation of proven prevention and wellness programs that will save lives and lower health care costs for all Americans."

The $120 million in cooperative agreements will be awarded to states and territories for three components: statewide policy and environmental change, tobacco cessation through quitlines and media campaigns, and special initiatives to create health-promoting policies and environments. For the first two components, dollar amounts awarded to each state and territory will be based on population size and number of smokers. For the third component, states will apply for special funds through a competitive process based on the potential health impact of
the proposed activities. States and territories will have two years to complete their work. They will coordinate their efforts with other Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiatives in large cities, urban areas, small cities, rural areas, and tribal areas.

"State health departments are the backbone of the public health system and are uniquely positioned to support and leverage local efforts for chronic disease prevention and control," said Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"We expect that as a result of this nationwide project, most Americans will live in states with improved obesity-related and tobacco policies, we will make a national shift toward healthy environments, and we will increase significantly the number of people who are able to stop
smoking."

Funded projects will emphasize state-level policy and environmental changes that will help communities and schools support healthy choices. For example, states will make use of their collective purchasing power to improve the selection and availability of healthy foods in public
venues.

"Chronic diseases are the leading cause of premature death in the country, account for spiraling health care costs, and cause disability and suffering for millions of Americans," said Janet Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "The good news is that we can greatly reduce the toll of chronic disease by reducing just four risk factors -- tobacco use, physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and obesity. With these new funds, states and territories will work to improve the environments where their residents live, work, learn, and play so that healthy choices become the easy choice."

States and territories interested in applying for cooperative agreements can find more information at www.grants.gov. The application deadline is Nov. 24, 2009. Deadlines for additional projects that are part of the Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative will be announced soon.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

HIV Vaccine Study First to Show Some Effectiveness in Preventing HIV

/PRNewswire/ -- A Phase III clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand has demonstrated that an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and modestly effective in preventing HIV infection. According to final results released by the trial sponsor, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, the prime boost combination of ALVAC(R) HIV and AIDSVAX(R) B/E lowered the rate of HIV infection by 31.2% compared with placebo.

"This is the first HIV vaccine candidate to successfully reduce the risk of HIV infection in humans. We are very excited and pleased with the outcome of this trial and congratulate all those who participated in it," said Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker, Surgeon General, U.S. Army. "In addition, this study is an outstanding example of international and interagency collaboration involving many partners from the Thai and U.S. governments, private companies, non-profit organizations and volunteers."

In the final analysis, 74 placebo recipients became infected with HIV compared to 51 in the vaccine regimen arm. The efficacy result is statistically significant. The vaccine regimen had no effect on the amount of virus in the blood of volunteers who became HIV-infected during the study. More detailed results of this study will be presented next month at the AIDS Vaccine Conference, October 19 through 22 in Paris, France.

This finding has important implications for the design of future HIV vaccines and how they are tested, however additional research is needed to better understand how this vaccine regimen reduced the risk of HIV infection. Given the significant threat of HIV infection worldwide, an efficacious vaccine is urgently needed, as part of a broader prevention effort to help control the epidemic.

Collaborating partners on this study, referred to as RV144, include the U.S. Army, the Thai Ministry of Public Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, sanofi pasteur, and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases (GSID). The collaborators are already working with external experts to determine the need for additional studies on this vaccine regimen and consider the impact of this study's findings on other HIV vaccine candidates.

"These results show that development of a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine is possible, " said Colonel Nelson Michael, Director, Division of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Director, U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP). "While these results are very encouraging, we recognize that further study is required to build upon these findings."

Colonel Jerome Kim, Deputy Director, Science, MHRP and the HIV vaccines product manager for the U.S. Army added that, "knowledge gained through this study will be used to accelerate future study design and testing as researchers continue the search for a safe, globally-effective HIV vaccine."

The U.S. Army would like to thank the more than 16,000 Thai men and women who consented to participate in this trial and the efforts of the Thai Ministry of Public Health and all collaborators for their hard work in achieving this important milestone.

RV144 Phase III Trial Background

RV144 tested a prime-boost vaccine strategy that combined two vaccines based on strains (subtypes) of HIV that circulate in Thailand. The first, or "prime" vaccine, known as ALVAC HIV, was developed by sanofi pasteur and the booster vaccine, AIDSVAX B/E, was originally developed by VaxGen and is now licensed to Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases.

The proof-of-concept study, which began in 2003, was designed to evaluate the vaccine strategy's ability to prevent HIV infection, as well as its ability to reduce the amount of HIV in the blood of those who became infected after they enrolled in the study.

More than 16,000 HIV-negative men and women between the ages of 18 to 30 participated in the study; half of these participants received the prime-boost vaccine regimen and half received placebo. Volunteers received vaccinations over the course of six-months and were followed for an additional three-years. Before agreeing to participate, all volunteers were informed of the potential risks associated with receiving the experimental vaccine regimen used in this study and consented to participate in the study. Volunteers continued to receive an HIV test every six-months for three-years following vaccination, in addition to counseling on how to prevent becoming infected with HIV.

For additional information, please visit www.hivresearch.org

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

HHS Secretary Sebelius Announces Cornerstone Funding of the $650 Million Recovery Act Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative

Creating ways for healthful lifestyle habits to be the natural first choice for Americans is the goal of a $650 million initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to increase physical
activity, improve nutrition, decrease obesity, and decrease smoking in U.S. communities.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a funding opportunity for communities and tribes to apply for $373 million in cooperative agreements for the comprehensive public health initiative, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, to be led by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).

"This initiative will make disease prevention and health promotion top priorities in states and communities across the country," Secretary Sebelius said. "Preventing disease is vital as a strategy to improve our nation's health and reduce health care costs."

Communities Putting Prevention to Work will change systems and environments-for example, improving access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity-and putting into place policies, such as clean-indoor-air laws, that will promote the health of populations. Funded entities will have two years to complete their work.

The $373 million in cooperative agreements will be awarded to communities through a competitive selection process. The cooperative agreements will support evidence-based prevention strategies for youth and adults and will promote partnerships across communities and sectors.

The remainder of the funds for this initiative will be made available in the coming weeks to states, territories, and organizations to support, extend and evaluate the reach and impact of the community projects.

Funded projects will emphasize high-impact, broad-reaching policy, environmental, and systems changes in schools (K-12) and communities. For example, communities will work to make high-fat snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages less available in schools and other community sites and to use media to promote healthy choices. In addition, funded communities will be encouraged to provide quality physical education in the nation's schools and enact comprehensive smoking bans.

"The CDC is excited to have this opportunity to help states and communities do more to deliver proven prevention strategies, in ways that reach whole communities and populations," said CDC Director, Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Chronic diseases linked to obesity, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and tobacco use are the leading causes of death and disability in our nation. These additional resources will improve the quality of life for millions of Americans."

Communities interested in applying for Communities Putting Prevention to Work grants can find more information at www.grants.gov. The application deadline for the community projects is Dec. 1, 2009. Deadlines for state, territory, and other prevention projects that are part of the
Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative will be announced soon.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

HIV Screening Tests Proposed to Be Added to Medicare's List of Covered Preventive Services

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a new proposal that would cover Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection screening for Medicare beneficiaries who are at increased risk for the infection, including women who are pregnant and Medicare beneficiaries of any age who voluntarily request the service.

"The President has set clear priorities for an improved national response to ending the HIV epidemic," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Today's action by HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sends a strong signal that this Administration takes prevention very seriously, especially when it comes to HIV and AIDS."

"While younger age groups account for most cases of HIV infection in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in 2006, approximately 19 percent of all U.S. residents with AIDS were age 50 years or older when the disease was diagnosed, " she added. "Knowing about their HIV status can help patients live longer, fuller lives as well as avoid unintentional transmission of the virus to others."

CMS' efforts mark the first time that Medicare has proposed to expand its list of covered preventive services under a new authority established by Congress. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) gave CMS the ability to consider whether
Medicare should cover "additional preventive services," if certain requirements are met.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is diagnosed when an HIV-infected person's immune system becomes severely compromised or a person becomes ill with an HIV-related infection. Of the more than one million Americans estimated to have the HIV infection, the CDC has estimated that about a quarter of them do not realize they are infected. Without treatment, the HIV infection usually develops into AIDS within 8 to 10 years. While there is presently no cure for HIV, screening can help identify infected patients so that they can receive medical
treatment that could help delay the onset of AIDS for years.

"This proposal to cover HIV screening for our Medicare population has great potential in terms of saving lives and improving the quality of life for many seniors, as well as beneficiaries under age 65," said Acting CMS Administrator Charlene Frizzera.

The White House's top HIV/AIDS official saluted the move by HHS, calling it a critical step in helping HIV and AIDS patients to get the treatment they need.

"The President is committed to re-focusing national attention on the domestic HIV epidemic and salutes this decision as an important step in our overall strategy," said Jeffrey S. Crowley, the Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. "We are working with agencies across the government to achieve the President's goals of reducing HIV incidence, getting all people living with HIV/AIDS into care and improving health outcomes, and reducing HIV-related health disparities. The actions taken by the HHS today are an important part of
our efforts."

Under MIPPA, CMS can consider whether Medicare should cover preventive services that Congress has not already deemed as covered or non-covered by law, as long as they have been "strongly recommended" or "recommended" by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.. For
instance, the Task Force graded HIV screening as "strongly recommended." More information about the Task Force is available online at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic.

CMS uses the national coverage determination process to make decisions on these types of preventive services. This process provides transparency about the evidence that CMS considers when making itsdecisions and allows opportunity for the public to comment on CMS'
proposals.

"We are pleased to be able to propose an expansion to Medicare's portfolio of preventive services," said Barry M. Straube, M.D., CMS Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Agency's Office of Clinical Standards & Quality. "Before the MIPPA law, CMS had not been able to
expand preventive services without Congressional action. Now we can take more active steps to evaluate the evidence about which services are reasonable and necessary to help keep Medicare beneficiaries healthy."

CMS will accept public comments on the proposed decision through Oct. 9, 2009, and will issue a final coverage decision by Dec. 8, 2009.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Ten Flu Prevention PSA Contest Finalists Chosen; Now the Public Votes for the Winner!

Help us select a winner! It's time for the public to vote for the best video in the HHS Flu Prevention Public Service Announcement (PSA) Contest. The producer of the winning video gets a $2,500 cash award, and the winning PSA will be broadcast on national television!

When HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced our contest asking people to help promote flu prevention, we had no idea what to expect. The response to the contest was amazing! Some 240 video PSAs were uploaded on YouTube!

All videos were reviewed for adherence to message and length criteria. More than 100 videos qualified for the next step: review by a panel of expert judges. Their review is complete, we are down to the final 10, and now it is your turn to select the best.

Keep in mind as you watch the PSAs that we need to reach as many people as we can. We are entering the fall flu season, and the 2009 H1N1 flu could impact all of us, so getting the message out on how we can best avoid the flu is critical. Think young and old; students and mothers;
and those most vulnerable -- then tell us which video delivers the flu prevention message best.

Voting starts on YouTube at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, Saturday, Aug. 29, and runs through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday, Sept.16.

Information on the contest and how to vote is available at www.flu.gov.

You will find a wide range of seasonal and H1N1 (swine) flu information at www.flu.gov; we suggest you visit it often to get the latest information and guidance for home, school, business, faith-based organizations and so much more. Sign up for regular updates and let us know what your questions are.

Go online and vote; then stay tuned for the results!

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page