IOM proposes blueprint for tracking chronic disease

Federal regulators should take the lead in creating a national system to keep tabs on chronic diseases and provide guidance for stakeholders across the country, the Institute of Medicine said Friday.

The IOM released a blueprint for building a national chronic disease surveillance system focused primarily on cardiovascular and chronic lung disease. The report says surveillance systems already collect a wealth of data on chronic diseases, but what's missing is a national effort to "integrate current and emerging data on chronic diseases and generate timely guidance for stakeholders at the local, state, regional and national levels."

The IOM proposes that the Department of Health and Human Services helm the effort.

"Without a national surveillance system," the IOM concludes, "the gaps in current monitoring approaches will continue to exist, making it more difficult to track the nation's health status despite advances in technology and data collection."

The American Heart Association applauded the blueprint.

"With a coordinated system," AHA President Gordon Tomaselli said in a statement, "we can determine which strategies have the greatest impact in reducing the financial and health burden of cardiovascular disease. These recommendations will enable us to thread the labyrinth of data on heart disease and stroke and close critical gaps in the treatment and prevention of America’s leading health threats."

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