News and Events

View breaking news on thrombosis and thrombophilia, blood  clotting and clotting disorders below.  You click on any story for more details.

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INR Home Monitoring Triumphs! CMS Expands Coverage

Good news!  The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding its coverage of INR home monitoring to include patients on warfarin for DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and PE (pulmonary embolism), i.e., VTE (venous thromboembolism, blood clots in the legs and arms). Previously, CMS provided coverage only for home INR testing of patients with mechanical heart valves.
 
“This is good news,” says Dr. Stephan Moll, chair of NATT’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board.  “However, in my opinion, as long as reimbursement (for the services health care workers provide to INR home testers) or the service-delivery structures do not change, I am doubtful that INR home testing will fully take off. This is very unfortunate, as INR home testing is really the way to go for many patients on warfarin [see NATT’s most recent newsletter]. Under the present circumstances, doctors have relatively little incentive to support their patients doing self testing.” 
  
The CMS Decision Summary is as follows:
 
“After examining additional medical evidence, we are expanding Medicare coverage of home prothrombin (INR) monitoring to include chronic atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism under the following conditions:

References:

http://www.nattinfo.org/Newsletters/NATT_Winter_07_Newsletter_Final.pdf

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/viewdecisionmemo.asp?id=209

NATT Launches New Web Site!

On March 1, 2008 NATT launched its new web site version 1.5.  We hope you find the navigation easier, the content more accessible and the look and feel easy on the eyes.   Here you can learn about the latest news and events concerning blood clots and clotting disorders.  We would like to thank Richard Quattrocchi and Bridge Associates www.bridgegrouponline.com for creating the new site design.

Throughout the year NATT and its educational partners are hosting seminars for patients, family members, the public and healthcare providers.  More details are available in our upcoming events section to the right.

March is DVT Awareness Month

March is DVT Awareness Month.  DVT Awareness Month is sponsored by the Coalition to Prevent DVT.  The purpose is to raise awareness of this serious public health issue.  The Coalition is comprised of more than 35 representatives from nationally know medical societies, patient advocacy groups, and other public health organizations. The Coalition  received congressional support from Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who co-sponsored Senate Resolution 56, which passed with unanimous consent on March 2nd, 2005 declaring March DVT Awareness Month in memory of NBC correspondent David Bloom who died of from DVT while embedded with coalition forces in Iraq.  

CDC Awards NATT Funding to Improve Blood Clot Awareness

CDC BuildingFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 26, 2007 CDC AWARDS NATT FUNDING
TO IMPROVE BLOOD CLOT AWARENESS

TARRYTOWN, NY - The National Alliance for Thrombosis and Thrombophilia (NATT) today announced the award of two major program grants totaling $1.35 million that will serve as building blocks for its efforts to curb the unchecked devastating effects caused each year to nearly one million Americans who develop a blood clot.

NATT will use its two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grants to “launch a national wake-up call to promote public and healthcare professional awareness of this serious medical condition that each year kills nearly 300,000 Americans,” explains NATT President Randy Fenninger.

“We have a national crisis because few people recognize or understand the symptoms and risk factors of this silent killer. And even equally startling, is that not enough of our nation’s healthcare professionals have a full understanding of the symptoms and the methods for treatment of this life-threatening condition,” he said.

Complications from clotting, occurring in more than half of those affected individuals, can often have serious consequences – as is evident from an annual mortality rate that is greater than the combined deaths from breast cancer, AIDS, and automobile accidents. Mr. Fenninger complimented the proactive efforts of the CDC for recognizing the need to fund an all-out public and professional attack against blood clotting disorders. The awards, he notes, “serve to further support our national education and awareness work.

This is a superb news for all Americans at risk for blood clots, and a very proud moment for the many volunteers who have worked so hard to move NATT from a board room dream to a now nationally respected community-based advocacy organization that does so much good.” Aiding the CDC’s proactive funding efforts was a meeting held in May of 2006 by the U.S. Surgeon General who brought together national healthcare and public leaders to discuss the serious problems surrounding blood clots and clotting disorders.

The general theme from this meeting is the publication of “Call-to-Action” this fall by the U.S. Surgeon General to improve education and awareness within the healthcare profession, as well as the general public. These facts, combined with a serious lack of awareness among the public, constitute a significant public health problem that NATT has been battling since its inception in 2003. NATT Executive Director Alan Brownstein explained that a national initiative called “Stop-The-Clot,” will now be launched. The multi-tiered program, one of two receiving funding awards from the CDC, will focus its education and awareness efforts on such objectives as:

The CDC also awarded funding for a nurses and non-physician healthcare professionals’ education project that will specifically address the areas of blood clot prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management. NATT’s Medical And Scientific Advisory Board (MASAB) Chairman Dr. Stephan Moll, director of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Thrombophilia Program, expressed his board’s delight regarding the CDC awards. “I commend the CDC on their efforts to respond to this extreme health issue in such a proactive manner through funding these programs instituted by NATT,” he said.

"Dr. Moll noted that the healthcare professionals’ education project is deemed an essential element in the fight against blood clots. “Improving the content and delivery of health information/education by nurses and other non-physicians,” he said, “provides an educational and training aspect to a critical part of a patient’s healthcare and wellness.”

"The program, Dr. Moll explained, will be delivered nationally through the utilization of evidence-based teaching methods in small group sessions led by trained faculty. The program’s ultimate goal is to prevent secondary conditions in people with clotting disorders by improving their access to knowledgeable healthcare providers.

NATT will collaborate with many organizations in its development of a 12-region training program. Patients will be reached throughout the U.S. network of the 140-federally funded Hemophilia Treatment Centers, the CDC Pilot Thrombophilia Centers and through participants of the Anticoagulation Forum.

(For More Information regarding the National Alliance for Thrombosis and Thrombophilia and/or their national programs, please contact Alan Brownstein at (917) 209-2000, apbrownstein@msn.com, or NATT President Randy Fenninger (202) 833-007. or log on to www.nattinfo.org. NATT is a 501c3 national volunteer community-based organization which welcomes support through involvement and/or donations. Further information can also be obtained from NATT’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board chairman Dr. Stephan Moll, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at (919) 966-3311 or smoll@med.unc.edu.)

ALAN BROWNSTEIN NOW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NATT

Alan Brownstein

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Alliance for Thrombosis and Thrombophilia (NATT, www.nattinfo.org), a nationwide community-based healthcare advocacy organization fostering efforts to reduce the cause of deadly blood clots, announced Monday that it has appointed Alan P. Brownstein as its Executive Director.

Mr. Brownstein, most recently President and CEO of the National Down Syndrome Society, will begin immediately his work to assist NATT's efforts and goals. "We are extremely fortunate to attract an individual of Alan's caliber and capabilities, and experience," exclaimed NATT President Mark Jablonski. "Mr. Brownstein has held many prestigious and important roles within the national healthcare advocacy community and NATT anticipates that he will be strong partner providing us with the leadership, guidance, and insight necessary to help NATT grow and magnify our efforts to serve the needs of those at risk for or suffering from blood clots," continued Jablonski.

Mr. Brownstein's executive management career, within the healthcare advocacy community, has spanned 25 years. From 1981 to 1994, he served as Executive Director for the National Hemophilia Foundation - successfully guiding that organization's growth and program efforts. Since then, Mr. Brownstein was for 10 years President/CEO of the American Liver Foundation.

Dr. Stephan Moll, Chairman of NATT's Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, called the appointment of Alan Brownstein a big step forward. "He is well known and highly respected in the medical community, specifically the hematology community," Dr. Moll continued. "His experience makes him an extraordinarily suitable match for NATT and he no doubt will be the catalyst to transform this relatively new volunteer patient organization into a national powerhouse."

Mr. Brownstein stated that he was "attracted to NATT because of the compelling public health issues related to thrombosis and thrombophilia and the commitment of the Board to increase awareness in the public, among patients and their families, healthcare professionals and government leaders." He said, "I am confident that NATT will succeed because it represents a strategic alliance of patient/business leaders nd medical/scientific leaders speaking with a unified voice."

Mr. Brownstein will be providing transitional leadership following the untimely passing of NATT's founding Executive Director, Line Robillard. Initially, he will be serving part-time focusing on developing resources to strengthen NATT's programs and infrastructure. Once these building blocks are in place, NATT will be able to grow nationwide in ways that will fulfill it's mission to prevent, diagnose and treat thrombosis and thrombophilia through research, education, support, and advocacy.

NATT was formed in 2003 after it was discovered that there was a significant void towards education and awareness within the fields of Thrombosis and Thrombophilia.

Venous thromboembolism (abnormal clotting in the veins of the body) is a significant public health problem. Each year, more than 900,000 people in the United States develop live threatening blood clots. Nearly one third of these individuals die each year - a number that is greater than the number of people who die each year of AIDS, breast cancer, or automobile accidents combined.

"Even though specialized knowledge about thrombosis and thrombophilia has mushroomed in the past decade," remarked Jablonski, "many health care providers at the front line of diagnosis still lack access to it. This means that many of their patients don't get preventative treatment or the needed timely and accurate diagnosis. Furthermore, quality support for patients with established clots often does not exist."

For More Information:

Call: Tom Hogan (860) 376-3250 or email, thogan96@sbcglobal.net.

Dr. Stephan Moll, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, O - (919) 966-3311  Email - smoll@med.unc.edu