More time needed to provide diabetes education – Support Medicare Expansion Bill

3 things you can do today On August 22, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Expanding Access to Diabetes Self-Management Training (DSMT) Act (S. 3366) in the U.S. Senate. This is the Senate companion to legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 10 by Representatives Tom Reed (R-NY) and Diana DeGette (D-CO). AADE worked in collaboration with the Diabetes Advocacy Alliance and our Senate champions to introduce this important piece of legislation.  Now that legislation has been introduced in the House and the Senate, we need the help of all diabetes educators to build support for these bills on Capitol Hill.  Send a letter to your legislator Call or Tweet your members of Congress urging them to support this important legislation by becoming a cosponsor.  Share this post with your friends and colleagues   Why is this bill important? As diabetes educators, we know that self-management can be a path to a better quality of life. However, barriers within the Medicare benefit keep some of our most vulnerable citizens from accessing DSMT. The Expanding Access to DSMT Act (H.R. 5768 and S. 3366) will reduce barriers and improve Medicare beneficiary access to DSMT services in the following ways: Allows the initial 10 hours of DSMT during the first year to remain available until fully utilized. If there’s a determination of medical necessity, then an additional 6 hours of training/ education may be added. Allows 6 hours of DSMT in subsequent years, up from 2 hours.  Removes the restriction related to coverage of DSMT and Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) services furnished on the same day. Excludes DSMT services from Part B cost-sharing and deductible requirements. Permits physicians and qualified non-physician practitioners who are not directly involved in managing an individual’s diabetes to refer them for DSMT services. An example would be a specialist treating a comorbidity like gangrene or vision loss, or an emergency room doctor. Revises the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual to allow DSMT services to be furnished in a community-based location.] Establishes a 2-year demonstration of virtual DSMT, potentially paving the way for future Medicare coverage of virtual DSMT services.

It’s not too late to finish your homework!

Not able to complete your Online University courses?
Go “Back to School” and extend your courses for an additional year!

Online Course Bundle Extensions

Have you run out of time to study, but still want to access your courses?

Extend your courses for one additional year for a small fee. You can purchase the extension while your courses are still accessible, or when they expire.

 

10 Spots Remaining at the Diabetes Educator Course | San Diego, CA – September 5th-7th, 2018

Sign up now to reserve your spot, space is very limited!

“More than a course, it’s an experience!”

Top 5 Reasons to Join >>

Come join us at our Level 2, Diabetes Educator Course in sunny San Deigo, California. Whether you are new to diabetes or a seasoned expert, you’ll leave our live seminars with the latest research plus teaching tools  you can immediately apply to your clinical practice. Beverly and her teaching team translate the complex science of diabetes into understandable terms, while keeping it real, practical and fun.

Dates:  September 5th – 7th, 2018

Diabetes Educator Course San Diego Brochure

Diabetes Educator Course Agenda

Join Diabetes Education Services on Facebook!

Here at Diabetes Education Services we strive to keep our community up-to-date on all the latest developments in healthcare and diabetes. We also love keeping in touch with our community before, during and after preparing to become an educator. 

 Join us Facebook Group to receive the following:

• Question of the Week
• “Knowledge Byte” blog posts
• Announcements for upcoming webinars and live shows
• Special campaigns and discounts
• and much more! 

Thank you for your continued support and keep in touch! 

Bacteria may eat what we don’t! A recent study shows that gut microbiome may play a role in the effectiveness of weight loss.  Each person has their own unique microbiome community. An individual’s microboime makeup exerts a powerful influence over weight loss success or not.

In this study, the participants with an increased amount of the gut bacteria, Phascolartobacterium, were more successful in loosing the weight than participants with the bacteria, Dialister, who had a greatest risk of failure. 

The study suggests that certain gut bacteria may digest parts of food that we are unable to and create a byproduct. The byproduct then turns into additional calories. “Somewhere between 5 to 15 percent of all our calories come from that kind of digestion, where the microbes are providing energy for us, that we couldn’t [otherwise] get,” Blaser explains.

Although the study was small, it raises an interesting question, are those extra byproduct calories an unwanted gift? As research continues and results discovered are similar, this may mean more gut bacteria tailored diets in the future. 

“What we would hope to do is to be able to individualize care for people,” Kashyap says. “And we’d also try to develop new probiotics, which we could use to change the microbial makeup.”

To learn more – “Diet Hit A Snag? Your Gut Bacteria May Be Partly To Blame” by NPR

---

Level 4 – New Horizons – Getting to the Gut 1.0 CE – $29

Join us to learn about the exciting advances in our understanding of the pathology of diabetes and novel approaches to prevention with our New Horizons – Gut Bacteria webinar.

We will discuss trends in diabetes diagnosis and classification.  The role and importance of gut bacteria in the pathology of type 1 and type 2 will explored. A detailed discussion on emerging research and clinical trial on interventions to delay or prevent diabetes is also included.

 

30% of American Indians on the White Earth Reservation have Type 2, which is three times the national average.

Accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables plays an integral role in a community’s health. Often we stumble upon “food deserts – regions where grocery stores with fresh, healthy options simply don’t exist.” 

This summer, a new food truck has set out to make healthy eating more accessible to those who are not near grocery stores. White Earth Nation purchased a “healthy” food truck to help tribal members have access to healthy, locally produced and traditional foods. 

Unhealthy eating habits are often tied to generations with limited access to fresh foods and can lead to chronic long-term health problems. 

The goal of the new food truck is to provide more choices, as the White Earth Food truck travels to reservation villages in the summer with fresh produce and in the winter with other foods like squash, wild rice and preserves made from summer crops.

To learn more about the new food truck – White Earth hopes food truck puts reservation on road to better health by MPRnews

Please also enjoy our Plant Based Resource page

The FreeStyle Libre is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which automatically measures glucose readings day and night. This technology helps track glucose levels and in turn, manage diabetes. A new study suggest that CGM helps decrease health costs as it improves treatment adherence. Although people are still advised to perform standard glucose tests to confirm the accuracy, the monitor is reading and reporting glucose levels automatically through out the day. 

The study suggest that from a cost perspective, the CGM saves money due to the lessened frequency of testing and materials necessary. The study also found that people with Type 1 and 2 experienced a reduction in hypoglycemia when using the CGM. 

“For people with T1DM or T2DM who use MDI therapy, flash CGM has demonstrated improved adherence to the ADA recommendation as well as reduced acquisition cost when compared with routine SMBG.” 

Learn more with – FreeStyle Libre boosts testing adherence and lowers costs during MDI treatment, US study reports by Diabetes.co.uk

---

View our July Newsletter

For this issue, we discuss the differences and similarities of human and analog insulin. Topics covered include:

• Insulin, Analogs or Human Insulin?
• The ADA Petition to keep insulin affordable
• Human Insulin for Medicare Beneficiaries
• and more!

Click here to read our newsletter! 

Please check out this fantastic resource by “Mom loves best” – The 111 Benefits of Breastfeeding – For Babies, Moms & Everyone Else