As long as they also track the purchase of cigarettes and send notices
to buyers that they should quit smoking, I might be able to accept this
as OK. LOL

Seriously, I think this is bad public policy:

1) it won't work
2) benefits from lower medical expenses will fall far short of the
costs to administer this program
3) it won't involve people who don't get medical care, and I think that
population is more likely to suffer complications from high blood sugar

Anyone know whether it conflicts with HEPA or similar federal
legislation?

Andrew

On Dec 22, 2005, at 9:33 AM, TypeTwo@yahoogroups.com wrote:

>
> Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 06:40:09 -0800 (PST)
> From: Drew DUBLER <drew@...>
> Subject: N.Y.C. Adopts Code to Monitor People with Diabetes
>
> NEW YORK - Hoping to save hundreds of lives, New York adopted a health
> code regulation
> Wednesday that will make it the first American city to keep track of
> people with diabetes in
> much the same way it does with patients infected with HIV or
> tuberculosis.
>
> The city will occasionally use its database to prod diabetics to take
> better care of
> themselves.
>
> The policy breaks new ground because it involves the collection of
> information about people who
> have a disease that is neither contagious nor caused by an
> environmental toxin. It has also
> raised privacy concerns in some quarters.
>
> New York's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said the
> program's potential to save
> thousands of lives outweighs what it gives up in medical privacy.
>
> "We will ensure that the utmost care will be taken to keep people's
> privacy and information
> protected," he said.
>
> Under a revised city code passed by the Board of Health, most medical
> laboratories in New York
> will be required to electronically forward the results of thousands of
> blood-sugar tests to the
> city Health Department, which will then analyze the data to identify
> people having trouble
> controlling their diabetes.
>
> Some patients might then get letters or phone calls from their
> doctors, prodding them to take
> medication, come in more frequently for checkups, or change their diet.
>
> Diabetes is the fourth-leading cause of death in the city, but people
> who aggressively monitor
> their condition are less likely to develop fatal or debilitating
> symptoms, including blindness,
> kidney failure and heart problems.
>
> When it was first proposed last summer, the program was greeted with a
> mixture of excitement
> and trepidation.
>
> A spokesman for the American Diabetes Association declined to comment
> on the surveillance
> program, saying the group needed time to review its specifics. In
> general, the ADA supports
> diabetes registries but says patients should be asked for their
> consent before their health
> information is seen by anyone other than their doctors.
>
> Frieden said people skittish about their privacy will be allowed to
> opt out of the program.
> Details on how that would work, however, are still being developed.
>
> New York's first use of such a health registry came in the late 19th
> century as part of a
> battle against an epidemic of tuberculosis. Since then, the list of
> illnesses reported to city
> officials has steadily expanded, but still consists mostly of
> contagious illnesses or ones with
> an environmental cause, like food poisoning.
>
> Frieden said diabetes' status as a leading killer made it just as
> important to watch as any
> contagious disease.
>
> Diabetes killed 1,891 New Yorkers in 2003, the last year for which
> figures were available.
>
> DREW
> T2 since '91
>