Usually, this time of the year Ray and I are in Washington, D/C. For the ZERO The End Of Prostate Cancer Summit. The next day after the Summit is Capitol Hill Day. This year everything was virtual including Capitol Hill Day. March 8th we had one zoom meeting and on March 10th we had seven a total of eight for the Ohio Crew. Our meetings were with the legislative staff from the offices of Congressman Tim Ryan, Senator Sherrod Brown, Congressman Steve Chabot, Senator Rob Portman, Congresswoman Marci Kaptur, Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, Congressman Dave Joyce and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty. All the meetings went great and very receptive to our ask and hearing our stories about prostate cancer. We also asked the Legislative offices to sign the (House) King-Bishop dear colleague to the House Appropriations Committee supporting funding for PCRP program. And also sign the (Senate) Mendez-Crapo dear colleague letter to the Senate Approbations Committee will be circulated later in the year.
Legislative Asks
$120 million for Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) at the Department of Defense (DOD)
$16. 2 million for prostate cancer outreach, surveillance, and education funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with emphasis on high-risk men.
Co-sponsorship of H.R. 1176, the PSA for HIM Act
*Elimination of PSA copay for African-American men and men with a family history of the disease
*Introduced by Representative Rush (D-FL) and Representative Bucshon (R-IN)
Co-sponsorship of the Veterans Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act when it is introduced by Representative Dunn (R-FL)
*Would require the VA to establish a clinical pathway for prostate treatment,
We urge Congress to support $120 million in funding for the PCRP in the FY 2022 DOD appropriations bill and fight any effort to undermine or eliminate the program in the National Defense Authorization Act
Provide $16.2 million (an additional $2M) for prostate cancer activities at the CDC, targeting high-risk populations in the Labor-NHS-Education FY 22 appropriations bill
The Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act-H.R.1176 (Representative Rush (D-IL) and Representative Bucshon (R-IN)
*Waives deductibles, co-payments, and coinsurance for prostate cancer screenings for men who have a
family history of prostate cancer or who are African-American
*Instructs insurers and government agencies to treat these populations as if they had an “A” pr “B”
grade from USPSTF, which the Affordable Care Act ties insurance coverage
*USPSTF released finalized its PSA recommendation in May 2018 and improved the screening grade
from a “D” to a “C”
Veterans Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act = VA Clinical Pathways for Prostate Cancer
*Representative Dun (R-FL) will soon introduce legislation requiring the VA to develop a clinical
pathway for prostate cancer
*Pathways focus on the quality and efficiency of care after decisions have been made about what
procedures or services to perform, “Guidelines” are decision support tools for physicians to make
evidence-based decisions about treatment options, whereas a pathway, may be viewed as a quality
assurance tool for a hospital or system.
*Clinical Pathway is a plan of care that translates clinical guidelines into a structured and
standardized intervention for a specific clinical problem in a specific population of patients. It
includes time frames for progression through the pathway.
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