News

December 2005 – Partnership for Progress in Bone Health Site Launch
June 2005 – Tommy Thompson Speaks About Osteoporosis
April 2005 – The Summit on Partnership for Progress in Bone Health
October 2004 – Surgeon General Report Released
March 2002 – President Bush Declares 2002 – 2011 The Bone & Joint Decade
October 2001 – Geisinger Receives Award

December 2005 – Partnership for Progress in Bone Health Site Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2005
For more information, contact: Educational Awareness Solutions
(203) 604-1854

Bone health is focus of new web site, national awareness campaign
A major health summit on the subject of osteoporosis, held in New York City in the spring of 2005, has provided a boost to the federal government’s new campaign spotlighting bone health in America. The incidence and effects of osteoporosis in the United States have reached such epidemic proportions that the department of Health and Human Resources launched a public health campaign to help address the problem. In October 2004, the US Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona, MD, issued the first-ever report on the nation’s bone health, warning that by 2020, half of all Americans over 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low bone mass if no immediate action is taken.

The health summit, entitled “Partnership for Progress in Bone Health,” was a cooperative venture, co-sponsored by CME Consultants, Inc., of Wakefield, RI, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), based in Washington, DC. The summit was organized by Educational Awareness Solutions of Norwalk, CT, and supported with a grant from Merck & Co., Inc. The consortium, which included national experts in osteoporosis, considered ways to educate health care providers, insurers and consumers, and replace the perception of osteoporosis as an inevitable part of the natural aging process with the understanding that osteoporosis is a disease that can be both prevented and managed.

One exciting outcome of the summit is a new Internet site – www.partnershipforprogess.org – which offers information on bone health and osteoporosis for both professionals and consumers. More importantly, the site challenges both health care professionals and individuals to assume personal responsibility – with a new emphasis on prevention, lifestyle changes, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment to help stem the tide of this epidemic. The site also recommends that both governmental and private health care insurers adopt a disease management approach to osteoporosis with scientific methods of measurement of the success of the individual disease management programs. Disease management is an approach to health care that views an overall condition in terms of standardized, population-based diagnoses, treatments, outcome measures and costs.

“The goal of the two-day meeting was to share information about osteoporosis with experts from across the country in an effort to improve America’s bone health through a standardized, coordinated effort that bridges the gap between knowledge and action,” said Vicki Street from the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Additionally, President George W. Bush has declared 2002–2011 as the Decade of the Bone and Joint www.usbjd.org, and the United States has joined other nations throughout the world in committing resources to accelerate progress in musculoskeletal health issues, including osteoporosis, bone disease and arthritis. All 50 US states support the Decade and many states have already announced special proclamations to promote bone and joint health during National Awareness Week, October 12-20, 2005. Schools, community groups, sports clubs and health care professionals are encouraged to organize educational activities to promote bone and joint health.

“We were moved by the Surgeon General’s Report – which challenges local, state and federal governments, as well as the private sector, to join community organizations in a widespread, collaborative effort to improve the bone health of the country,” said Susan Miller, from Educational Awareness Solutions. “We hoped a collaborative health summit could result in ways to heighten awareness of the problem and close the gap between what healthcare professionals know and what the general public knows and does. An informative, accessible web site will reach people around the globe and take people one step closer to being able to change the way they think and act about bone health, and view it as the preventable disease it is.”

Osteoporosis – the most common bone disease – can lead to a major decline in physical health and quality of life, as well as premature death. According to the Surgeon General’s report, 10 million Americans over the age of 50 currently have osteoporosis and another 34 million are at risk for it. In addition, every year 1.5 million people suffer an osteoporosis-related bone fracture, which significantly understates the true impact because it captures the problem at a point in time. Other sobering findings in the report include the fact that hip fractures account for 300,000 hospitalizations each year – and that about 20 percent of people who fracture a hip end up in a nursing home within a year and 20 percent of senior citizens who suffer a hip fracture die within a year.

Bone disease, like many other chronic diseases, affects a large percentage of the elderly, and with the graying of America, its prevalence and impact are likely to increase to staggering proportions. Direct-care costs for osteoporosis-related fractures are already about $18 billion a year.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Cindy Karra, (202) 974-5009
June 10, 2005
Potomac Center for Medical Education
Launches New Osteoporosis Education Initiative

Based on US Surgeon General’s first-ever bone health report

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the Potomac Center for Medical Education (PCME), an Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)-accredited organization, announced a new continuing medical education initiative, the Bone Health Advisory Council, to educate primary care physicians and other medical professionals about the urgency of early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. More than 10 million Americans, especially women, suffer from this silent and debilitating disease.

This educational initiative is based on the US Surgeon General’s first-ever bone health report issued last year. The PCME will launch the Bone Health Advisory Council by hosting a live continuing medical education (CME) satellite broadcast on June 21, 2005 at 12:00 PM EDT (with a second broadcast to follow at 3:00 PM EDT). Please visit www.bonehealthcouncil.org to register, or for more information.

The hour-long program will examine the vital role of Vitamin D in the prevention of osteoporosis, as well as address the importance of early and aggressive treatment. Tommy Thompson, former US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is the keynote speaker for this event. Mr. Thompson was Secretary of HHS when the Surgeon General’s report on bone health was developed.

“Osteoporosis is a silent but deadly condition, and many people are simply unaware that their bone health is in jeopardy,” said Thompson, now an advocate for improved bone health. “We now know that it can be treated successfully, saving millions of Americans from brittle and fractured bones, and relieving our health care systems of a great financial burden—if we take action now.”

The broadcast will also feature Dr. Marc C. Hochberg, Head of the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and Dr. Henry G. Bone, Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit.

Additional educational projects about osteoporosis, including newsletters and a series of national town hall forums, will continue throughout the year as part of the Bone Health Advisory Council’s initiative. The first town hall forum, a live medical symposium on the public burden of osteoporosis, will take place in Baltimore on June 22, 2005 at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

This event is sponsored by the PCME and supported through an educational grant from Merck. The educational partner of the Bone Health Advisory Council initiative is Rockpointe Corporation.

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April 2005 – The Summit on Partnership for Progress in Bone Health

Overview

A national summit on osteoporosis, entitled “Partnership for Progress in Bone Health,” was held in April 2005 in New York City, co-sponsored by National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) based in Washington, DC, and CME Consultants, Inc. of Wakefield, RI. The summit was jointly sponsored by Educational Awareness Solutions of Norwalk, CT, and supported with a grant from Merck & Co., Inc. The goal of the two-day meeting was to share information about osteoporosis and bone health with experts from across the country, in an effort to improve America’s bone health through a standardized, coordinated effort that bridges the gap between knowledge and action.

A major focus of the meeting was the recently released (Oct. 2004) Report of the Surgeon General on Bone Health and Osteoporosis, which addressed the gap between clinical knowledge about bone health and its application in the community by seeking to develop a coordinated public health approach that brings together a variety of public and private sector stakeholders in a collaborative effort. According to Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, MD, bone health is an often-overlooked aspect of physical health. Dr. Carmona, who renewed attention to his October 2004 report by naming May as Bone Health Month in 2005, encouraged all health care professionals and patients to redouble their efforts to improve bone health.

The agenda included a discussion of osteoporosis disease management; how to better align key decision makers within both the health system and managed care; how to arm frontline practitioners in the war against osteoporosis; how to assess and share outcomes; and how to maintain the momentum in this public health effort.

The mission of the 2005 “Partnership for Progress in Bone Health” is to improve America’s bone health by bridging the gap between clinical knowledge and its application in the community through promoting systems-based approaches for health plans and insurers.

One of the results of the “Partnership for Progress in Bone Health” summit is a website [ www.partnershipforprogress.org ] targeting the education of health care providers, insurers and consumers, and replacing the perception of osteoporosis as an inevitable part of the natural aging process with the understanding that osteoporosis is a disease that can be both prevented and managed. The group considered models that might be successful, as defined by the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA), whose stated mission is to:

“Advance disease management through standardization of definitions, program components and outcome measures, promote high-quality standards for disease management programs, support services and materials, and educate consumers, payers, providers, accreditation bodies, and legislators on the importance of disease management in the enhancement of individual and population-based health.” (www.dmaa.org/mission.html)

Part of the significance of the summit held in New York City was that it was a national gathering dedicated to improving American bone health based upon the Surgeon General’s Report published in October of 2004. One of the Surgeon General’s “calls to action” was for various stakeholders to get together through partnerships designed to improve bone health. The report stressed the importance of such partnerships of individuals, public/private sectors and providers and insurers as crucial to the development of a national action plan for bone health. The “Partnership for Progress in Bone Health” kicked off an educational process designed to share information that will promote bone-healthy behaviors and support the early identification and treatment of bone disease.

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October 2004 – Surgeon General Report Released

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/bonehealth/

March 2002 – President Bush Declares 2002 – 2011 The Bone & Joint Decade

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020325-5.html

October 2001 – Geisinger Receives Award

http://www.geisinger.org/services/osteo/hera.shtml

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