Bipartisan Coalition Forms to Call for Chronic Disease to be Key Focus of Health Reform in Indiana and ...( Over 3.6 million cases of se...),Health

Over 3.6 million cases of seven common chronic diseases were reported in Indiana in 2003

Reform Needed to Address Health Costs and Economic Loss Caused by this Crisis

INDIANAPOLIS, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading experts and organizations in the health care, business, faith and labor communities came together today to launch the Indiana chapter of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), a coalition committed to making chronic disease prevention and management a major part of comprehensive health and economic reform.

The PFCD is led nationally by Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States (2002-2006) and Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and a former White House health policy advisor.

In Indiana, PFCD has a distinguished panel of co-chairs including Marion County Safety Director Scott Newman, National Chairman of the American Diabetes Association George Huntley and Chief Operating Officer of Pop Weaver Popcorn Will Weaver.

The PFCD partners and Executive Director, Ken Thorpe, believe that it is impossible to contain rising health care costs -- and tackle other issues of coverage and quality -- without addressing chronic disease through comprehensive health reform.

"President Obama has made it clear that reforming our nation's health care system is a top priority for his Administration," said Thorpe. "In fact, the current economic downturn has made addressing the issue of health care reform an even more critical priority in 2009."

"Right now, health care reform is being debated in Congress for the first time in nearly 15 years and controlling cost must be a key focus of this debate. The single biggest threat to stemming rising costs is the uncon
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