IDSA DEPEND ON OUTDATED LYME DISEASE GUIDELINES

LYMEPOLICYWONK: Congressmen Call For Removal of Outdated IDSA Guidelines from National Guideline Clearinghouse

- from Lyme Disease.org 

Treatment guidelines are tremendously important in determining your medical treatment options. All important treatment guidelines are listed by the NGC. NGC requires that guidelines be updated every 5 years. 

The IDSA has not revised its guidelines for more than 5 years. Nevertheless, the NGC recently permitted them to continue listing the guidelines without updating them because the IDSA guidelines had been reviewed in the antitrust hearing settlement hearing. 

This is wrong because:

1. The IDSA antitrust review panel was not empowered to revise the guidelines;

2.  The IDSA antitrust review panel only had authority to review the guidelines for compliance with the legal standard set for them in the settlement agreement. 

3. The IDSA antitrust review process recommended over 25 changes to the guidelines—none of which have been implemented. You might recall that there was a split vote on the settlement panel regarding whether lab testing should be mandatory for a diagnosis of Lyme disease.

4. The 2006 guidelines do not reflect new science including the Barthold mouse study and the Embers monkey study, both of which demonstrate persistent infection—a fact denied by the 2006 guidelines.

The IDSA guidelines result in patients being denied necessary care.  They are used by insurers to deny patients reimbursement for care and by the IDSA as a club to drive out its competitors in unprofessional conduct actions. 

Go to the link here to read in full.