SRES378-119

That the Senate— supports the designation of Malnutrition Awareness Week; recognizes registered dietitian nutritionists and other nutrition professionals, health care providers, school food service workers, those who provide home-delivered meals, social workers, advocates, caregivers, and other professionals and agencies for their efforts to advance awareness, treatment, and prevention of malnutrition; recognizes the importance of existing Federal nutrition programs, like the nutrition programs established under the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.) and Federal child nutrition programs, for their role in combating malnutrition, and supports increased funding for these critical programs; recognizes the role of community-based organizations, food banks, faith-based organizations, and local agencies and the need for partnerships among them and with healthcare providers in preventing and addressing malnutrition in underserved areas; recognizes— the importance of medical nutrition therapy under the Medicare Program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.); and the need for vulnerable populations to have adequate access to nutrition counseling; recognizes the importance of the innovative research conducted by the National Institutes of Health on— nutrition, dietary patterns, and the human gastrointestinal microbiome; and how those factors influence the prevention or development of chronic disease throughout the lifespan; recognizes that malnutrition affects people of all ages and backgrounds and that early identification and intervention can reduce health care costs, hospital readmissions, and long-term complications; encourages the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to facilitate the implementation of the new Malnutrition Care Score, an electronic clinical quality measures for adults over the age of 18; acknowledges the importance of healthy food access for children, especially in childcare settings and schools, and the benefits of evidence-based nutrition standards; and acknowledges that addressing malnutrition is critical to achieving national goals related to chronic disease prevention, healthy aging, and good health for all.