REFS & ANNOS
TITLE 31 Chapter 15A NOTE
EDITOR'S NOTES. --Ga. L. 1998, p. 877, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "(1) Osteoporosis affects 28 million Americans and each year results in 1.5 million fractures of the hip, spine, wrist, and other bones, costing the nation $14 billion annually; (2) Osteoporosis progresses silently, in many cases undiagnosed until a fracture occurs, and once a fracture occurs, the disease is already advanced, and the likelihood is high that another fracture will occur; (3) One in two women and one in eight men 50 years of age and over will suffer a fracture due to osteoporosis; (4) Since osteoporosis progresses silently and currently has no cure, prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment are key to reducing the prevalence and devastation of this disease; (5) Medical experts agree that osteoporosis is preventable and treatable; however, once the disease progresses to the point of fracture, its associated consequences may lead to disability and institutionalization and may exact a heavy toll on quality of life; (6) Given the current focus on reducing unnecessary health care expenditures through the use of health promotion and disease prevention programs, it is cost effective to make available coverage of services such as bone mass measurement, which will lead to early diagnosis, prevention of fracture, and timely treatment of osteoporosis; (7) Bone mass measurement is a reliable way to detect the presence of low bone mass and to ascertain the extent of bone loss to help assess the individual's risk for fracture, which aids in selecting appropriate therapies and interventions, while ordinary X-rays are not sensitive enough to detect osteoporosis until 25-40 percent of bone mass has been lost and the disease is advanced; (8) Current available technologies for measuring bone mass or bone loss include single and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, computed tomography, radiographic absorptiometry, and biochemical markers, and other technologies for determining bone mass or bone loss are under investigation and may become scientifically proven technologies in the future; and (9) Scientifically proven technologies for detecting bone loss and other services related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis can be used effectively to reduce the pain and financial burden that osteoporosis inflicts upon its victims."
