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William Harshaw makes a good point. It is true that the vast majority of the lobbying and fund raising efforts for PD go to basic science, which is valuable but will not affect the lives of PWP for many years. We should devote resources to helping people today and in the short run. On a policy level we should devote resources to lobby for better access to today's treatment and to speeding new treatments in the pipeline to approval. I have worked the past 3 years with the PDF to establish a program of policy and services research to address issues like the ones mentioned. We are limited in what we can accomplish by our own resources. If you would like to contribute in some way email me. More information on the QuADPaC (Quality, Access, and Delivery of Parkinson's Care program can be found at www.parkinsonscare.org. Perry Cohen Wash DC William Harshaw wrote: "...the utter lack of attention that is being paid to therapy access. There are palliative therapies in the market place that work and work well - effective and efficacious to the rigorously minded. DBS neurosurgery, for example. Why are there not list members pursuing the expansion of this real winner.. Some of the things that could be done: - lobby for more training places for neurosurgeons and the subspecialty, functional neurosurgery - lobby for more funding for these procedures - lobby to ave them universally approved by HMOs for reimbursement purposes - ensure that both neurologists and neurosurgeons use formal checklists to determine who goes on the surgery list - ensure that hospitals make funding available from their global budgets