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Jeanette: I have my dragon dictate installed and will offer my observations on the EPDA meeting. I was pleased to be invited to speak at the EPDA meeting on the subject of "Public Health Challenges for Parkinson's Disease in the U.S." Research supported by the Quality, Access, and Delivery of Parkinson's Care (QuADPaC) program of the PDF will be presented including data from the PDF "access survey" and data from research conducted by Dr. Joyce Pressley at Columbia University on the costs and resource use of Parkinson's patients covered by Medicare. A major goal of QuADPaC is to initiate public health planning to address concerns about such issues as insurance coverage, availability of specialty care, and quality of care for the population. To advance this goal, a steering committee has been formed to plan a workshop on "access to quality care for PD." Included in the committee are Dr. Caroline Tanner (Parkinson's Institute), Dr. Robert Holloway (Univ. of Rochester), Dr. Barbara Vickrey (UCLA), and Dr. Guy McKhann (NINDS), and Dr. Matthew Zack (CDC). Dr. Rusty Glazer and myself are staff. This effort is being supported by the Parkinson's Disease Foundation with the assistance of the American Parkinson's Disease Association. We hope to obtain support from additional sources. More information on QuADPaC can be found at our Website, www.parkinsonscare.org. PRESENTATION ABSTRACT: This presentation describes strategies to initiate Public Health programs in the context of US Federal policy and the private US health care industry, which offers a contrast to the more socialized European systems. Although private foundations and individual medical providers provide information and referral to patients, community wide efforts to improve detection and treatment of PD are lacking. The Quality, Access and Delivery of Parkinson's Care (QuADPaC, www.parkinsonscare.org) Program of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation was initiated to fill gaps in services research and to support advocacy for PD health services. Services research is used to motivate planning and conduct further research that ultimately will become the basis for a public health action plan for PD. A status report, "Parkinson's Care in the U.S." identified the need for: 1) basic surveillance data on incidence, prevalence, and progression of PD in different demographic groups, 2) better detection and tracking of disease progression at early stages, 3) access to comprehensive specialty services at later stages of PD, and 4) information on the burden and cost to the disease relative to reimbursement policies of public and private insurance coverage. The 1999 PDF Access Survey points out problems for PWP on issues of access to specialty care and lack of social insurance coverage for needed prescription drugs and long term care. Research sponsored by QuADPaC on PD costs in an older Parkinson population shows a high incidence of broken bones, many of which are a result of preventable falls, at a cost of 2.5 times as much to Medicare. >Don't I wish I could attend the EPDA Conference, 11-09 thru 11-11, in >Vienna, Austria. The scope of programs being offered is so large and I sure >hope PIEN list presenter, Perry Cohen will give PIEN some feedback from >Vienna. Is that possible Perry or other PIEN members who are attending? > >Jeanette Fuhr 50/47/44?