A new U.S. government council charged with researching the effectiveness of healthcare spending includes no dentists.
The stimulus package President Barack Obama signed into law in February includes $1.1 billion for research into comparative effectiveness of various medical interventions.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) named 15 people to a new Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research to oversee the spending of that money.
Of this group, 15 members have medical degrees. The others have various degrees in public health, public policy, law, social work, and related fields. A statement about the new council posted on the HHS Web site does not mention dental or oral health.
"The council will consider the needs of populations served by federal programs and opportunities to build and expand on current investments and priorities," according to the HHS.
In 2000, then Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., noted that 2.5 times as many Americans lack dental insurance as lack medical insurance and recommended "raising the awareness of the importance of oral health among government policy makers to create effective public policy that will improve America's oral health."
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