Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States recognizes the mounting personal and financial burden of diet-related disease in the United States and calls on medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and other health professional training programs to provide meaningful physician and health professional education on nutrition and diet.
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This resolution expresses support for activities to ensure that health professional training programs (e.g., medical schools, residencies, and fellowships) incorporate substantive training in nutrition and diet.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 784 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 784

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
 States recognizes the mounting personal and financial burden of diet-
  related disease in the United States and calls on medical schools, 
  graduate medical education programs, and other health professional 
     training programs to provide meaningful physician and health 
             professional education on nutrition and diet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 9, 2021

  Mr. McGovern (for himself and Mr. Burgess) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
 States recognizes the mounting personal and financial burden of diet-
  related disease in the United States and calls on medical schools, 
  graduate medical education programs, and other health professional 
     training programs to provide meaningful physician and health 
             professional education on nutrition and diet.

Whereas obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke are among 
        the leading causes of death and disability nationwide and are 
        inextricably linked to diet;
Whereas poor diet and nutrition have led to epidemic levels of obesity in 
        America, with nearly 40 percent of adults currently obese and models 
        projecting that nearly 60 percent of today's children will be obese by 
        the age of 35;
Whereas nearly 10 percent of Americans suffer from type-2 diabetes and more than 
        one-third have pre-diabetes, compared with less than 1 percent just 50 
        years ago, and these conditions can be prevented or reversed by the 
        adoption of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle;
Whereas diet-related cancers are on the rise among young adult populations;
Whereas increasing rates of cardiovascular disease and diet-related cancers are 
        contributing to the recent declines in life expectancy of the United 
        States population;
Whereas the economic costs related to--

    (1) diagnosed diabetes exceed $300 billion per year;

    (2) obesity exceed $200 billion per year; and

    (3) cancer care exceed $180 billion per year;

Whereas the Federal Government bears much of the cost of diet-related diseases 
        as reflected by increased Medicare spending, which in 2019, totaled $800 
        billion, or more than 15 percent of all Federal spending;
Whereas in the next 10 years, Medicare spending is expected to exceed $1 
        trillion;
Whereas much of this increased Medicare spending is directly attributed to the 
        rise of diet-related diseases, as 5 of the 8 most common conditions for 
        the 60 million Medicare beneficiaries are diet-related, with one-third 
        of Medicare spending alone devoted to diabetes-related costs;
Whereas the Federal Government also bears a substantial cost for training 
        physicians who treat patients with diet-related diseases, particularly 
        through graduate medical education as--

    (1) Medicare dollars provide the single largest Federal direct funding 
source for graduate medical education (GME), including residency and 
fellowship programs, at an estimated $10.3 billion per year; and

    (2) the Federal Government also matches the Medicaid funds that more 
than 40 States have elected to allocate to GME programs;

Whereas GME programs receiving Federal funding do not consistently include 
        substantive curricular requirements or performance benchmarks relevant 
        to diet or nutrition;
Whereas in the absence of Federal requirements, all levels of medical training 
        are largely devoid of nutrition education for medical professionals--

    (1) at the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) level, medical schools 
devote on average only 19 hours to nutrition science and diet over 4 years, 
or less than one percent of all lecture hours;

    (2) at the GME level, requirements for nutrition curriculum and 
competency are limited or absent from the educational standards for key 
medical specialties, set by the accrediting body, the Accreditation Council 
for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME); and

    (3) at the Continuing Medical Education (CME) level, no State requires 
physicians to take courses in nutrition and diet, though 37 States require 
training in other areas of medicine;

Whereas the lack of training in nutrition has contributed to a measurable 
        deficiency in health professionals' knowledge of how diet and food 
        relates to health; for example, only 10 percent of surveyed 
        cardiologists report receiving more than minimal education in nutrition 
        as part of their training;
Whereas medical professionals have cited the lack of nutrition education as a 
        barrier to effectively counseling patients on diet and nutrition and 
        knowing when to refer patients to nutrition professionals, and only 14 
        percent of surveyed primary care physicians report feeling adequately 
        trained to offer nutrition guidance to their patients;
Whereas patients reasonably expect their physicians and certain health care 
        specialists to be reliable sources of knowledge regarding nutrition and 
        diet, and are unaware that their physicians may be ill-equipped to even 
        begin to provide useful dietary advice or to make appropriate referrals 
        to nutrition professionals; and
Whereas there exist numerous opportunities for policy interventions to include 
        education related to nutrition and diet at every level of medical 
        training, at the direction of accrediting and testing bodies, State 
        governments, and the Federal Government of the United States: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States should--
            (1) provide Federal oversight to ensure that Federal 
        funding of medical schools and graduate medical education 
        programs, including funding provided through Medicare and 
        Medicaid, goes to programs that incorporate substantive 
        training in nutrition and diet sufficient for physicians and 
        health professionals to meaningfully incorporate nutrition 
        interventions and dietary referrals into medical practice;
            (2) urge that medical schools, residency and fellowship 
        programs, and other health professional training programs 
        provide meaningful nutrition education that demonstrates the 
        connection between diet and disease, and develops the skills 
        necessary to initiate meaningful nutrition interventions and 
        referrals;
            (3) conduct or fund research intended to--
                    (A) assess the status of nutrition education across 
                healthcare professionals' training;
                    (B) develop effective curricular interventions to 
                ensure competency in diet and nutrition for physicians 
                and other health professionals; and
                    (C) evaluate the impact of the education of health 
                professionals on patient and population health;
            (4) support the development and dissemination of best 
        practices and curricular resources to medical schools, 
        residency and fellowship programs, and health professional 
        training programs to reduce the burden of introducing or 
        increasing diet and nutrition education; and
            (5) raise awareness of the critical role that diet and 
        nutrition play in the health of all patients and the 
        responsibility of practicing physicians, health professionals, 
        and healthcare administrators to assist in promoting healthy 
        diets; to offer patient education and counseling about diet and 
        nutrition; and to make timely and appropriate referrals as 
        necessary.
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