The Coalition for Equal Access to Allergy Testing (CEAAT) launched last month, aimed towards eliminating inappropriate insurance barriers to guidelines-based care. CEAAT is an alliance of patient, public health, provider, and other stakeholder groups and individuals focused on improving early intervention for allergies.
The group’s goals include changing public policy, especially for public insurance such as Medicare, which can be restrictive and outdated given today’s understanding of allergies. The aim would be to bring policies for coverages into line with the National Institutes of Health standards for medical procedure.
A coalition of many groups make up CEAAT.
CEAAT members include: Colored My Mind, FAACT (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team), Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings (LabCorp®), The Maryland Center at Bowie State University, Michelle Meeks, M.D., (South Suburban Family Health), National Association of School Nurses, National Black Child Development Institute, Quest Diagnostics, Inderpal Randhawa, M.D., (Assoc. Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine), Reid Temple AME Church, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and The Translational Pulmonary and Immunology Research Center.
The coalition believes that by improving access to allergy testing through policy changes in both public and private insurance, healthcare disparities in allergy treatment can be reduced. Particularly among lower-income populations.