[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 784 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 784
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States recognizes the mounting personal and financial burden of diet-
related disease in the United States and calls on medical schools,
graduate medical education programs, and other health professional
training programs to provide meaningful physician and health
professional education on nutrition and diet.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 9, 2021
Mr. McGovern (for himself and Mr. Burgess) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce,
and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States recognizes the mounting personal and financial burden of diet-
related disease in the United States and calls on medical schools,
graduate medical education programs, and other health professional
training programs to provide meaningful physician and health
professional education on nutrition and diet.
Whereas obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke are among
the leading causes of death and disability nationwide and are
inextricably linked to diet;
Whereas poor diet and nutrition have led to epidemic levels of obesity in
America, with nearly 40 percent of adults currently obese and models
projecting that nearly 60 percent of today's children will be obese by
the age of 35;
Whereas nearly 10 percent of Americans suffer from type-2 diabetes and more than
one-third have pre-diabetes, compared with less than 1 percent just 50
years ago, and these conditions can be prevented or reversed by the
adoption of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle;
Whereas diet-related cancers are on the rise among young adult populations;
Whereas increasing rates of cardiovascular disease and diet-related cancers are
contributing to the recent declines in life expectancy of the United
States population;
Whereas the economic costs related to--
(1) diagnosed diabetes exceed $300 billion per year;
(2) obesity exceed $200 billion per year; and
(3) cancer care exceed $180 billion per year;
Whereas the Federal Government bears much of the cost of diet-related diseases
as reflected by increased Medicare spending, which in 2019, totaled $800
billion, or more than 15 percent of all Federal spending;
Whereas in the next 10 years, Medicare spending is expected to exceed $1
trillion;
Whereas much of this increased Medicare spending is directly attributed to the
rise of diet-related diseases, as 5 of the 8 most common conditions for
the 60 million Medicare beneficiaries are diet-related, with one-third
of Medicare spending alone devoted to diabetes-related costs;
Whereas the Federal Government also bears a substantial cost for training
physicians who treat patients with diet-related diseases, particularly
through graduate medical education as--
(1) Medicare dollars provide the single largest Federal direct funding
source for graduate medical education (GME), including residency and
fellowship programs, at an estimated $10.3 billion per year; and
(2) the Federal Government also matches the Medicaid funds that more
than 40 States have elected to allocate to GME programs;
Whereas GME programs receiving Federal funding do not consistently include
substantive curricular requirements or performance benchmarks relevant
to diet or nutrition;
Whereas in the absence of Federal requirements, all levels of medical training
are largely devoid of nutrition education for medical professionals--
(1) at the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) level, medical schools
devote on average only 19 hours to nutrition science and diet over 4 years,
or less than one percent of all lecture hours;
(2) at the GME level, requirements for nutrition curriculum and
competency are limited or absent from the educational standards for key
medical specialties, set by the accrediting body, the Accreditation Council
for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME); and
(3) at the Continuing Medical Education (CME) level, no State requires
physicians to take courses in nutrition and diet, though 37 States require
training in other areas of medicine;
Whereas the lack of training in nutrition has contributed to a measurable
deficiency in health professionals' knowledge of how diet and food
relates to health; for example, only 10 percent of surveyed
cardiologists report receiving more than minimal education in nutrition
as part of their training;
Whereas medical professionals have cited the lack of nutrition education as a
barrier to effectively counseling patients on diet and nutrition and
knowing when to refer patients to nutrition professionals, and only 14
percent of surveyed primary care physicians report feeling adequately
trained to offer nutrition guidance to their patients;
Whereas patients reasonably expect their physicians and certain health care
specialists to be reliable sources of knowledge regarding nutrition and
diet, and are unaware that their physicians may be ill-equipped to even
begin to provide useful dietary advice or to make appropriate referrals
to nutrition professionals; and
Whereas there exist numerous opportunities for policy interventions to include
education related to nutrition and diet at every level of medical
training, at the direction of accrediting and testing bodies, State
governments, and the Federal Government of the United States: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
the United States should--
(1) provide Federal oversight to ensure that Federal
funding of medical schools and graduate medical education
programs, including funding provided through Medicare and
Medicaid, goes to programs that incorporate substantive
training in nutrition and diet sufficient for physicians and
health professionals to meaningfully incorporate nutrition
interventions and dietary referrals into medical practice;
(2) urge that medical schools, residency and fellowship
programs, and other health professional training programs
provide meaningful nutrition education that demonstrates the
connection between diet and disease, and develops the skills
necessary to initiate meaningful nutrition interventions and
referrals;
(3) conduct or fund research intended to--
(A) assess the status of nutrition education across
healthcare professionals' training;
(B) develop effective curricular interventions to
ensure competency in diet and nutrition for physicians
and other health professionals; and
(C) evaluate the impact of the education of health
professionals on patient and population health;
(4) support the development and dissemination of best
practices and curricular resources to medical schools,
residency and fellowship programs, and health professional
training programs to reduce the burden of introducing or
increasing diet and nutrition education; and
(5) raise awareness of the critical role that diet and
nutrition play in the health of all patients and the
responsibility of practicing physicians, health professionals,
and healthcare administrators to assist in promoting healthy
diets; to offer patient education and counseling about diet and
nutrition; and to make timely and appropriate referrals as
necessary.
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