Report Title:

Heart Failure Awareness Month

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

83

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Endorsing the proclamation of February as national heart failure awareness month.

 

WHEREAS, congestive heart failure is a major public health problem that impacts 5,000,000 Americans, or 1.5 percent of the American population; and

WHEREAS, each year, doctors diagnose 550,000 new cases of congestive heart failure, with 200,000 deaths and 1,000,000 hospitalizations attributable to the disease; and

WHEREAS, congestive heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in patients over the age of 65; and

WHEREAS, the vast majority of patients are not diagnosed until late in the course of the disease; and

WHEREAS, a conservative estimate of annual health expenditures in the United States for congestive heart failure exceeds $10,000,000,000 of which $8,000,000,000 is for the cost of hospitalizations; and

WHEREAS, although current treatment guidelines recommend that approximately 80 percent of heart failure patients receive ACE inhibitors in combination with beta blockers to extend life and reduce costly hospitalizations, only 45 percent of patients are currently treated with ACE inhibitors, and only 20 percent of patients currently receive beta blockers; and

WHEREAS, the primary goals of National Heart Failure Awareness Week are:

(1) To promote research related to all aspects of heart failure and provide a forum for presentation of that research;

(2) To educate heart failure caregivers and patients through programs, publications, and other media allowing for more effective diagnosis and treatment of heart failure; and

(3) To enhance the quality and duration of life for those who suffer heart failure;

now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that this body endorses the proclamation of February as National Heart Failure Awareness Month, and the inclusion of the latest treatment advances for congestive heart failure including ACE inhibitor and beta blocker therapies in the curriculum of medical schools in the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Health is requested to transmit the treatment guidelines for congestive heart failure published by the Heart Failure Society of America, Inc.; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that physicians and insurers should be encouraged to administer and provide reimbursements for echocardiograms to all patients over 55 years of age with a history of heart disease and begin appropriate treatment for such patients as early as possible; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that physicians and insurers should also be encouraged to prescribe or provide reimbursement for the standard care of congestive heart failure, including the use of Federal Drug Administration-approved ACE inhibitors and beta blockers as well as other therapies that have been shown to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with congestive heart failure; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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