Chronic diseases poised for national attention

Lives could be saved and health care costs trimmed if disease prevention becomes a focus, according to a new coalition.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. June 4, 2007.

Washington -- A bipartisan coalition of health care, business and labor organizations intends to bring several unhealthy truths about chronic disease out of the shadows and into the spotlight of presidential politics.

The newly formed Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease made up of nearly 60 groups, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Hospital Assn., the National Medical Assn. and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, would like to see the fight against chronic diseases become the nation's No. 1 health care issue.

"Our goal is to restructure and reframe the debate on health care reform," said the group's executive director, Ken Thorpe, PhD, chair of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and a health policy adviser during the Clinton administration.

Among the unhealthy truths noted at the group's May 15 Washington, D.C., debut was the fact that chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease and cancer are the primary cause of death and disability in the U.S. Chronic diseases are responsible for seven out of 10 deaths each year, according to the group.

"We have a 'sick care' system, not a health care system in this country," said former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, in a statement. Dr. Carmona is the coalition's chair. "Despite any differences we may have on other issues, we all agree on a single, undeniable fact: 130 million people suffer from chronic diseases in our nation, and costs are skyrocketing because of preventable and poorly managed chronic diseases," he added.