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Heart For Woman Act

Heart for Women Act
As known by we as students heart disease is the number one killer among women. This information is something not so well known by our healthcare providers. Studies show that 90% of providers do not realize that heart disease kills more women than men. Researchers and providers also do not have certainty of how safe or effective treatments are for woman. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of drugs and medical devices differ in women than in men. Females are less likely to receive certain diagnostic tests than our male counterparts. With this happening; the percentage of heart disease among men has decreased since 1979 yet among women that percentage has slightly increased since this time. With so much uncertainty an act was introduced into both the senate and the house on February 14, 2006 and became the HEART for Women Act. The act takes a three step approach to improving prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease. Heart for Women Act raises awareness among women and their doctors through grants and Medicare educational campaigns. Specific race and gender information is reported to providers and researchers to better help the study heart disease in woman. It also improves screening for low-income women at risk for heart disease and stroke which already happened in fourteen states but with this act the program known as WISEWOMAN (Well-Intergrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation) is authorized to expand to all fifty states.