More nutrition therapy for elderly.

IOM report calls for new funding for outpatients and those in home setting

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES INSTITUTE of Medicine is requesting Congress to extend medical nutrition therapy coverage to all Medicare enrollees, not just those admitted to a hospital. If Congress follows the IOM recommendations, more elderly people could receive therapy that might postpone or prevent admittance to hospitals and long term care facilities. In addition, long term care providers would receive additional reimbursement to provide higher quality nutritional therapy services to more residents.

"Fewer people might have to enter long term care facilities if they had received adequate counseling when they needed it," says Cindy Moore, director of nutrition therapy at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, which has endorsed the 1GM report.

The ADA hopes the IOM report, "The Role of Nutrition in Maintaining Health in the Nation's Elderly: Evaluating Coverage of Nutrition Services for the Medicare Population," will spur Congress to pass the Medicare Medical Nutrition Therapy Act. The bill has already received bipartisan majority support in the House. The IOM report, issued December 15, 1999 was requested by Congress in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Medicare Part A now covers medical nutrition therapy for inpatient care only. The IOM study recommends coverage be extended in outpatient and home settings upon referral by a physician. It also recommends that registered dietitians provide these services.