SJR64 Summary

• Urges the Governor, state agencies, medical service providers, health care agencies, and all interested parties to establish clinical care and research centers for chronic neuro-endocrine-immune diseases (NEIDs), including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, Gulf War illnesses, and multiple chemical sensitivity.

• Urges increased education about NEIDs to clinicians, nurses, emergency room service providers, and future medical professionals through medical schools and health care agencies.

• Notes that NEIDs affect an estimated 20,000 Alabamians with ME/CFS (1 in 240) and 144,000 Alabamians with fibromyalgia (1 in 50), with 40 percent of patients searching 2-7 years for accurate diagnosis and 59 percent seeing four or more physicians before diagnosis.

• States that 61 percent of Alabama NEID patients are unsatisfied with medical care and believe their physicians lack sufficient knowledge of these diseases, while 52 percent in bordering states report similar dissatisfaction.

• Establishes that specialized centers would reduce diagnostic delays, decrease physician visits needed for accurate diagnosis, and enhance Alabama's biotech industry.