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Landmark Program that will Provide Children with Visits to Registered Dietitians
FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 20, 2009
Media contact: Jennifer Starkey
800/877-1600, ext. 4802
media@eatright.org
 Photo courtesy of Adam Schultz/ Clinton Foundation |
The new Alliance Healthcare Initiative will provide children and their families with visits to registered dietitians as part of their health insurance. With the American Academy of Pediatrics, ADA will help clinicians “provide education, improve care coordination, offer resources to eligible families and help with recruitment of medical professionals,” according to the Alliance, which is a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation.
“We are very grateful to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dietetic Association for the commitments to offer the resources of their members, so that children and families participating in the benefits will actually receive quality care,” Former President Bill Clinton said in announcing the new initiative.
According to the Alliance, health insurance organizations taking part include Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and WellPoint. Employers participating as Aetna customers include Houston Independent School District, Owens Corning and Paychex. PepsiCo, the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association will offer these benefits to their employees.
Registered dietitian Martin M. Yadrick, President of the American Dietetic Association, took part in the announcement of the initiative at the Clinton Foundation’s offices in New York City.
“This marks the first time that these stakeholders – health professionals, insurance providers and companies – have joined together to tackle childhood obesity in a comprehensive way,” Yadrick said. “We believe the Alliance Healthcare Initiative can be vital in prevention and treatment. This is exactly the type of collaborative program that ADA has long believed is needed to address and combat the childhood obesity epidemic.”
Yadrick added: “Thanks to this landmark effort, for the first time in many cases, children and families throughout our country will have access to the unparalleled nutrition therapy services provided by registered dietitians. ADA’s policy priorities include improving the health and nutritional status of our nation’s children. We know coverage for nutrition services currently is inconsistent and infrequent. ADA would like to see all children be able to visit with a registered dietitian as often as they need to, without families having to worry that their insurance provider won’t cover the cost of the visit.”
“The American Dietetic Association wants insurance companies to see the value in investing in prevention and wellness so they can save money in the long run and greatly improve the health and quality of life of their members,” Yadrick said. “ADA and all registered dietitians are committed to making this effort work for children across the country.”
Registered dietitians Keith-Thomas Ayoob and Linda Arpino also attended the announcement representing ADA and the Association’s Coding and Coverage Committee, which empowers dietetics professionals to expand coverage and receive competitive reimbursement for providing high-quality nutrition services.
Describing the program, detailed at http://www.healthiergeneration.org/healthcareprofessionals.aspx, Clinton spoke of the need to make insurance reimbursement for the services of registered dietitians “available on a broad scale.” He said: “All insurer and employer signatories have agreed to offer at least four visits with a primary practitioner and four visits with a registered dietitian as part of the benefit portfolios for children and youth.”
During the first year of this program, nearly one million children will have access to this benefit option. The long-term goal of the Alliance Healthcare Initiative is that within the first three years, 25 percent of all overweight children (approximately 6.2 million) will have access to the benefit.
Yadrick praised Clinton for saying one of the Alliance’s goals will be to conduct an evidence-based review of child obesity interventions to determine the most effective treatments. Yadrick noted that ADA uses the evidence-based process in developing its practice recommendations for registered dietitians as well as official ADA positions on important issues in health and nutrition.
“Currently, the science around what is clinically effective in prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and the return on various kinds of investments is limited,” Clinton said. “Our health-care initiative will work hard to add to the science base and to inform best practices through an independent evaluation. We need to know what really works here.”
David Tayloe Jr., president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, discussed the important role of registered dietitians in working with pediatricians, using a local community-based program as an example. “We have a registered dietitian from the health department who assists staff from our office and the (YMCA) staff to give these children and their families nutritional guidance, fitness supervision and training, and health assessments and advice,” he said.
“In our practice, registered dietitians promote onsite support for pediatricians and we know that obesity can be treated in the office but probably not by pediatricians by themselves. To see successful long-term results, there must be an ongoing relationship involving patient, family, pediatrician, dietitian and widespread community support,” Tayloe said.
The American Dietetic Association is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Visit the American Dietetic Association at www.eatright.org/.
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