Obesity Rating Must Be Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records, Says HHS

CNS News ^ | 7/15/2010 | Matt Cover

[IbJensen]

CNSNews.com) – New federal regulations issued this week stipulate that the electronic health records--that all Americans are supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year--must record not only the traditional measures of height and weight, but also the Body Mass Index: a measure of obesity.

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available--with appropriate security measures--on a national exchange.

The new regulations are one of the first steps towards the government’s goal of universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014, as outlined in the 2009 economic stimulus law. Specifically, the regulations issued on Tuesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, define the "meaningful use" of electronic records. Under the stimulus law, health care providers--including doctors and hospitals--must establish "meaningful use" of EHRs by 2014 in order to qualify for federal subsidies. After that, they will be subjected to penalties in the form of diminished Medicare and Medicaid payments for not establishing "meaningful use" of EHRs.

Section 3001 of the stimulus law says: "The National Coordinator shall, in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies (including the National Institute of Standards and Technology), update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (developed as of June 3, 2008) to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: (i) The electronic exchange and use of health information and the enterprise integration of such information.‘‘(ii) The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014."

Under this mandate in the stimulus law, Secretary Sebelius issued a regulation--developed by Dr. Blumenthal--that requires that all EHRs keep track of a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) score. Body Mass Index is a ratio between a person’s weight and height, and is used to determine whether or not someone is overweight or obese. It is the preferred method of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for measuring obesity.

Michelle Obama has made dealing with the problem of childhood obesity the main theme of her term as First Lady.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com) According to the CDC, “BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.”

A person’s BMI score is used as a tool to screen for obesity or excessive body fat that could lead to other health problems. While it does not actually measure body fat directly, according to CDC, the BMI scores generally correlate with a person’s body fat percentage.

The new regulations also stipulate that the new electronic records be capable of sending public health data to state and federal health agencies such as HHS and CDC. The CDC, which calls American society “obesogenic” – meaning that American society itself promotes obesity – collects BMI scores from state health agencies every year to monitor obesity nationwide.

“Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit syndrome based public health surveillance information to public health agencies,” the regulations read.

With the spread of electronic health records, the CDC apparently will be able to collect such data more efficiently and with greater accuracy because the electronic record keeping systems can send the data automatically, eliminating the need for government – both state and federal – to keep, send, and process physical records.

[truthandlife]

BMI is NOT an accurate measurement of obesity and should never be taken as such. The BMI was a creation of the insurance industry, which uses it as part of actuarial tables to determine mortality risk when issuing life insurance policies. Only recently has the medical community begun to use it in the evaluation of obesity and related risk factors. Doctors use it because it is easy to measure.

In truth, the key measurement needed to measure obesity is body fat percentage – the percentage of fat compared to lean muscle, bones, organ tissue, water and fecal matter.

Here’s more: The BMI is known to be only accurate as related to body fat percentage for 68% of people. So the “revelation” that 1/3 of people measured as obese by their BMI are in fact not obese is no surprise to anyone with a wellness background.

Let me give you a typical example. On the BMI, almost all professional football linemen are obese, because the amount of muscle they have makes their weight in relation to their height “off the charts.” In fact however, most linemen have a body fat percentage of about 15-16%, which puts them right in the middle of the recommended range of 11-19% for men.

By comparison, running backs and defensive backs who are built for speed instead of muscle might be 5-10% fat.

So if you have heard that obese people might be healthy despite their weight, please disregard this info. You should measure body fat percentage.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The BMI is a flawed mathematical calculation, and the federal bureaucracy is going to insist upon using it for one simple reason: it allows them to punish people.

Please note that there are no cubic factors in this formula, which means it is not taking into account the volume of the person.

Mathematically, a 6' tall person should weigh 8 times what a 3' tall person weighs, since they are twice as tall and have a volume 2³ = 8 times that of the smaller person.

In practice, the BMI classifies very tall, skinny people as obese, and very short fat people as normal or even underweight. Michelle My Bell probably thinks she's underweight because her fraudulent BMI says so, and that's why the lard-ass feels free to tell everybody else they're fat.

The fact that they are going to use this calculation proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Obama and his minions are either completely stupid, or completely evil. There are no other choices.

[KarlInOhio]

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

As if your doctor couldn't just look at you and say "You need to lose weight".

The BMI never made much sense to me. If you take the average height man with an "ideal" weight and then compared that to someone 10% taller, I would expect the taller man would weigh 33% more with the exact same proportions (10% taller, wider and thicker). However, the BMI calculations only allow him to be 21% heavier because it is based on the square of the height, thus he will have a 10% higher BMI than the "ideal" man even though he is exactly the same shape. And don't even get me started about muscle versus fat.

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available--with appropriate security measures--on a national exchange.

In other words, never tell your doctor anything you don't want on the front page of the New York Times if someone in the Obama Regime decides you are an enemy of the regime.

[GailA]

I’ve posted a thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2553687/posts requesting a Socialized Medicine Forum topic so we can put all this stuff under 1 topic to make it easier to find and use. Please chime in.

[justsaynomore]

My son was a football player in Middle School, he was 160 lbs and very muscular. His pediatrician said exactly what you said, and that it’s true of many athletic kids (football was one, but he mentioned men’s gymnastics and others)

[momtothree]

Not only forget about the transplant but forget about any sort of treatment. Plus, the culture/society would be given a “free pass” to humiliate/tease/hurt anyone they deem too heavy. Pretty scary stuff.

[momtothree]

Not only forget about the transplant but forget about any sort of treatment. Plus, the culture/society would be given a “free pass” to humiliate/tease/hurt anyone they deem too heavy. Pretty scary stuff.

[Senator_Blutarski]

Here’s more: The BMI is known to be only accurate as related to body fat percentage for 68% of people. So the “revelation” that 1/3 of people measured as obese by their BMI are in fact not obese is no surprise to anyone with a wellness background.

At 6'4" and 215 pounds my son is "overweight" with a 26.2 on the BMI scale. He is also a college basketball player with a tested body fat under 5%.

I'm also "overweight" on the BMI scale with a body fat under 10%.

Nice test...

[Uri’el-2012]

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

A BMI based solely on height and weight is extremely flawed.

I use a Tanita bathroom scale which measures water vs. muscle.

[Ayn And Milton]

Nice call, cheers!