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Gingrich Returns to Georgia to Expand Scope of Healthy Columbus Project

Posted on: Monday, 23 April 2007, 15:00 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ga., April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation (CHT), returns this week to his high school hometown of Columbus, Georgia to highlight the progress of the Healthy Columbus Project he first proposed in September of 2006. At the time, Gingrich, along with Columbus endocrinologist Dr. Stephen Leichter, called on the Columbus community to build a model that could be replicated throughout America, beginning with a focus on diabetes and obesity.

Gingrich will discuss progress made and plans to come at a luncheon meeting of the Columbus Rotary Club at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center at 12:00 noon EDT on Wednesday, April 25. The title of his speech is "The Opportunity before Us."

"With the help of leaders like Stephen Leichter, Pfizer, the Chamber of Commerce, Novo Nordisk, and GlaxoSmithKline, as well as important employers like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, AT&T, Southern Company, and Synovus, Columbus is not only creating a community model that will save lives and save money," Gingrich said, "it is also poised to serve as a model that the rest of America will increasingly be looking toward for leadership and inspiration."

The Columbus Project is part of the Center's larger Georgia Project, which is serving as a state model for building a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money. Laura Linn, Project Director of the Georgia Project, said, "Columbus is an example of how a collaboration of leaders working together can begin to transform a community and, through their example, a state and an entire nation."

One element of the Healthy Columbus Project is a three-year program, to begin in May 2007, which will reach 10,000 working-age adults in Columbus. A collaboration of Pfizer, the Columbus Research Foundation, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and CHT, the focus of the program will be on altering the metabolic status of Columbus' working-age population that either has Metabolic Syndrome, suffers from related conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol, or is at risk to develop these conditions.

Educating area physicians based on national guidelines for diabetes care from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an important element of the project. In addition, worksite educational programs will be carried out in association with the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and major private employers in the area, including divisions of major area corporations, employees of the Columbus city government, and healthcare workers.

"The Columbus Project will include employer-driven community initiatives that focus on prevention and behavior change in order to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs," said Julia Portale, Senior Director of Pfizer Health Solutions. The project will include annual interventions and assessments to determine prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and whether project interventions are improving participants' health status. An economic analysis will be conducted to determine if annual costs associated with treating metabolic syndrome and its related conditions are reduced overall.

Gingrich will also announce that a Novo Nordisk-led coalition will collaborate with CHT and the Columbus Research Center to launch a project with the goal of getting 100% of all eligible Medicare recipients in Columbus screened for diabetes, thus allowing the initiative to reach beyond working- age adults and into the senior population, who are at greater risk of developing diabetes.

"We are committed, along with the American Diabetes Association and the other members of the Medicare Diabetes Screening Project, to informing seniors about this free benefit from Medicare," said Novo Nordisk Chief Government Affairs Officer Michael Mawby. "For seniors with diabetes or at risk for diabetes, early detection is the key to avoiding the serious complications associated with the disease."

A third element of the Healthy Columbus Project is implementation of a uniform system of insulin delivery in Columbus hospitals, to address the high incidence of insulin delivery errors often seen in hospitalized patients.

Newt Gingrich will address the Columbus Rotary Club from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 25th at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center, 2nd Floor. A media availability with Gingrich, Leichter, and representatives from Pfizer and Novo Nordisk will take place immediately following the event.

The Center for Health Transformation, founded by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans. For more information, visit http://www.healthtransformation.net/.

Center for Health Transformation

CONTACT: Megan Meehan of Center for Health Transformation,+1-202-375-2063

Web site: http://www.healthtransformation.net/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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