[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 25, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1302-E1303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING MALNUTRITION AWARENESS WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 25, 2018

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize this week as 
Malnutrition Awareness Week. Every 60 seconds, ten hospitalized 
patients with malnutrition go undiagnosed, and many of these patients 
are older adults.
  Malnutrition Awareness Week is a multi-organization, multi-pronged 
campaign created by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral 
Nutrition to educate healthcare professionals to identify and treat 
malnutrition earlier, educate consumers to discuss their nutrition 
status with their healthcare providers, and increase awareness of 
nutrition's role in patient recovery. There are common-sense solutions 
that can help close the malnutrition care gap.
  We currently do not know the full extent of the malnutrition problem 
plaguing the senior population. Screening measures for malnutrition are 
not a part of our national health surveys, and malnutrition is not 
included in the national health indicators and goals for older 
Americans that help shape public health programs and guide healthcare 
professionals.
  We cannot expect older adults and their families to take steps to 
address malnutrition if we don't give guidance on identification of and 
interventions for the problem as well. The U.S. Department of Health 
and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional 
guidelines have never addressed the issue of older adult malnutrition. 
We also cannot advance malnutrition care and promote improved patient 
recovery if we don't align the identification of and interventions for 
malnutrition with healthcare quality incentive programs. Malnutrition 
can lead to greater risk of chronic disease, fragility, disability, and 
increased healthcare costs, yet nutrition status is rarely evaluated 
and managed as individuals transition across care settings.
  Therefore, this Malnutrition Awareness week, I call upon the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services to routinely include 
malnutrition screening measures in national health surveys of older 
adults, and to include malnutrition among national key health 
indicators and Healthy People 2030 goals for older adults. I call upon 
HHS and the USDA to include dietary guidance for the prevention and 
treatment of older adult malnutrition and the closely-aligned problem 
of age-related sarcopenia (loss of strength and muscles) in the 2020 
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Finally, I call on the Centers for 
Medicare and

[[Page E1303]]

Medicaid Services to include malnutrition electronic clinical quality 
measures in Medicare quality programs as well as include measures 
related to malnutrition in care transition programs.
  I ask that my colleagues in the House of Representatives join me and 
rise in commemoration of Malnutrition Awareness Week. I wish to also 
salute the many groups and organizations who are involved on a daily 
basis in the fight against malnutrition, especially the bipartisan 
Defeat Malnutrition Today coalition and the Academy of Nutrition and 
Dietetics.

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