ivillillillillill November 28, 1967 PRESIDENT'S TRANSMITTAL LETTER TO THE CONGRESS For Report on Regional Medical Programs On Thursday, November 9, the day The Report On Regional Medical Programs To The President And The Congress was released for use by the White House Press Corps, copies of that Report and the Special Issue of our News, Information and Data publication were immediately mailed to all those currently on the mailing lists of the Division of Regional Medical Programs. Concurrent with the White House announcement, the President for- warded The Report to the Congress with a letter of transmittal. Included in this issue is a copy of the contents of that letter. Since the transmittal letter was also used as the statement to the White House Press Corps announcing the release of The Report (see reprint from THE WASHINGTON POST also included), the contents of the letter may also be used by our readers together with the Special Issue of News, Information and Data as background for public discussion of The Report. IT.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE THE WASHINGTON POST Thursday, Nov. 9,1967 ... M3 S u r On General Urges Expansion; Of the Regional Medical Programs The Regional Medical Pro- Nevada and Wyoming, doctors! pioneering in services in the grams begun by the United in community hospitals are Smithville area, where doctors States two years ago to help now linked by closed-circuit and patients now benefit from fight heart disease, cancer and radio and television with ex-Icomputer-assisted x-ray diag. stroke have been so successful perts at the University of Utah nosis that may some day :be that the Surgeon General yes- Medical Center in Salt Lake available in the entire region. terday recommended they be City. In urging operation pro- expanded to cover the entire Nation. * In Wisconsin, doctors are grams like these across the en- In a special 100-page report already making special studies tire country, Dr. Stewart esti- to President Johnson and.the of., uterine cancer patients, mated the annual cost of oper- 90th Congress, Dr. William H. w",h the hope of improving ations for each of the 51 Re- Stewart urged that direct anc, standardizing treatments. gional Medical Programs links among patient, doctor, 0 The Missouri region is would be at least $10 million. community hospital and major, medical centers be set up ini the 51 regions of the land. i "Extension of the program,": said Dr. Stewart, "will contrib-t@ ute- significantly to the attack-! on heart disease, can6er and stroke." Signed by President John- son Oct. 26, 1965, the law es- tablishing the Regional Medi- cal Prograns had a simple; goal: "To speed miracles of medical research from the lab- oratory to the bedside." In the report he issued yes-, 'terday, Dr. Stewart said the @Government had so far given' !planning awards totaling $24 million to 47 of the 51 national ,regions. An additional $7.-3 million has been given five regions to begin active operation of a Regional Medical Program, Dr. Stewart said. The results of at least three of these showed: 0 In the Intermountain Re-i @gion, covering Utah and parts; @-,1967. The Washington Post. ,of Colorado, Idaho, Montana,l Reproduced with permission. To the Congress of the United States: I am happy to send to you the Surgeon General's first report on Regional Medical Programs, as required by the Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke Amendments of 1965. Because the law and the idea behind it are new, and the problem is so vast, the program is just emerging from the planning stage. But this report gives encouraging evidence of progress--and it promises great advances in speeding research knowledge to the patient's bedside. In 49 regions covering 91 percent of our population, regional alliances have been formed between medical schools, hospitals, and local doctors; 24 million dollars in Federal planning money has been awarded. By early 1968, we hope to have programs underway covering 98 percent of the Nation's population. Most important, the imagination, knowledge, and energy to operate these programs will come from the local level. More than 1600 local health leaders--physicians, officials of medical centers, hospital administrators, teachers, and other health workors--are active as members of regional advisory groups. In five regions, cooperative medical programs are already operating with the help of 7.3 million dollars in Federal grants: the Albany region, covering northeastern New York, and portions of southern Vermont and western Massachusetts; the Intermountain region, covering Utah and parts of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming; the states of Kansas, Missouri, and Wisconsin. These areas are reporting important results already. In the Intermountain region, for example, physicians and community hospitals are now linked by special radio and television networks with experts at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. In Wisconsin, doctors are making special studies of uterine cancer patients, with the hope of improving and standardizing treatment methods. The Missouri region is pioneering new services in the Snlithville area, where doctors and patients benefit from computer-assisted X-ray diagnosis and other advanced techniques which may some day be available in the entire region. Progress is being made and I believe these programs will help us over- come the dreaded killer diseases--heart, cancer, and stroke. And they will put us farther along the road to our goal of modern medical care for every American citizen. Lyndon B. Johnson The White House November 8, 1967