45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

RECOGNIZING AND ENDORSING THE NATIONAL PROCLAMATION OF NATIONAL HEART FAILURE AWARENESS WEEK.

WHEREAS, congestive heart failure is a major United States public health problem that impacts five million Americans or one and one-half percent of the United States population; and

WHEREAS, each year there are five hundred fifty thousand new cases of congestive heart failure diagnosed, with two hundred thousand deaths and one million hospitalizations per year due to the disease; and

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

WHEREAS, congestive heart failure patients with the most severe symptoms have an approximately fifty percent one-year survival rate, and one-half of patients with even mild disease die within five years; and

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

WHEREAS, a conservative estimate of annual United States health expenditures for congestive health failure is in excess of ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000), with the largest portion, eight billion dollars ($8,000,000,000), of this expenditure for the cost of hospitalizations; and

WHEREAS, although current treatment guidelines recommend that approximately eighty percent of heart failure patients receive ACE inhibitors in combination with beta blockers to extend life and reduce costly hospitalizations, only forty-five percent of patients are treated with ACE inhibitors and twenty percent of patients 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 treatment and diagnosis of heart failure; and (3) to enhance the quality and duration of life for those with heart failure;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the national proclamation of National Heart Failure Awareness Week be endorsed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the treatment guidelines for congestive heart failure published by the heart failure society of America, incorporated, be transmitted by the secretary of health to the appropriate health care professionals in the state while urging their adoption of these guidelines in their practice; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that physicians and health care payers be encouraged to administer and provide reimbursement for echocardiograms to all patients over fifty years of age with a history of heart disease and begin appropriate treatment as early as possible; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that physicians and health care payers be encouraged to prescribe or provide reimbursement for standard of care for congestive heart failure, including the federal food and drug administration approved beta blockers and ACE inhibitors, 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 the senate of the state of New Mexico endorse the inclusion of the latest treatment advances for congestive heart failure, including ACE-inhibitor and beta-blocker therapies, in the curriculum of the university of New Mexico medical school; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health.