Resources: Government Resources on the Web

This area is your reference to information on the Web addressing a variety of topics for dietary managers — from foodservice management to human resources to diet therapy. Many of these resources are Web pages. A few are in pdf (Adobe Acrobat) format. If you do not have Acrobat, you can download it free from: www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html

Do you have a favorite website relevant to dietary management? To suggest websites to add to this directory, please contact the DMA webmaster.

American Society on Aging (ASA) • www.asaging.org/
The largest association of diverse individuals bound by a common goal: to support the commitment and enhance the knowledge and skills of those who seek to improve the quality of life of older adults and their families. The membership of ASA is a multidisciplinary array of professionals who are concerned with the physical, emotional, social, economic and spiritual aspects of aging. They range from practitioners, educators, administrators, policy makers, business people, researchers, students, and more.

Association of Health Facility Survey Agencies • www.ahfsa.org/statesites.htm
Links to all state survey websites.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)
• www.cms.gov
CMS is the government agency charged with implementing Medicaid and Medicare regulations. Their website provides information about Medicare/Medicaid, publications and forms that you can download, statistics and data about Medicare/Medicaid recipients, information about new initiatives, and links to other government sites.

CDC State Health Department Search • www.cdc.gov/states.htm
This search looks through information provided by the health departments of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. It is offered by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and retrieves Internet items and pdf files. You can search for items in an individual state's department, all heath department collections, or any combination of departments that you choose.

Conference for Food Protection • www.foodprotect.org
This coalition of industry advisors and federal and state government regulators creates the FDA Model Food Code used by states to create their own food codes. This website has some of the latest issues before the conference posted as well as decisions on past issues.

Consultant Dietitians in Health Care Facilities • www.cdhcf.org
Information about consultant dietitians, including chapter information, educational programs and workshops, and legal information.

Department of Health and Human Services • www.os.dhhs.gov
A variety of information and news on all aspects of health, covering everything from cancer to substance abuse to men's health.

FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) • www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html
The CFSAN regulates $240 billion worth of domestic food. They promote and protect the public health and economic interest by ensuring that: 1) food is safe, nutritious and wholesome, and 2) food is honestly, accurately, and informatively labeled.

Food Safety Training and Education Alliance (FSEA) • www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/part/safety_part_training.html
An Alliance to Improve Food Safety Training and Education at the Retail Level, which includes retail food, foodservice, vending, institutions, and regulators. FSTEA was born out of the President's Food Safety Initiative of 1997, which directs federal agencies to:
1. Form alliances with industry, consumer, trade, state and local food protection and agencies to share food safety education materials and conduct joint education activities in order to leverage resources and expand the reach of the alliances.
2. Form an alliance joining expertise of federal, state, and local agencies, industry and professional and trade associations to promote and implement the Food Code.
3. Develop multilingual communication techniques targeted to specific groups to overcome communication barriers

Health Care Links • www.aispub.com/HealthCareLinks.html#anchor221730
A very comprehensive directory of associations and other links of interest to managers in healthcare.

Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) • www.jcaho.org
Getting ready for a Joint Commission survey and don't know how to prepare? The Joint Commission website has all kinds of strategies and recommended materials to help you get ready for a survey. There's also information about the different programs that the Joint Commission offers to organizations that want to be accredited.

Joint Institute for Food Safety Research • www.jifsan.umd.edu/
This institute was created through efforts of the US Dept. of Health & Human Services and the USDA. Its purpose is to coordinate planning for food safety research and foster effective translation of research results into practice.

National Institute on Aging • www.nia.nih.gov
News, health, research programs, and funding information.

National site for finding state legislative information • Two sites are available to take you to information about government in a particular state.
www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html provides links to every state and other government information sites, including state maps, government associations, and state statutes.
You can also type www.state.__.us
Instead of the underscores, however, put in the two-letter abbreviation of the state you are interested in. This will take you directly to the home page of that state (i.e., for information about Illinois, type www.state.il.us)

Nursing Home Compare • www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/home.asp
Allows the user to compare nursing homes using detailed performance information.

Nursing Home Quality Initiative • www.cms.hhs.gov/NursingHomeQualityInits/
A pilot program developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, this site hopes to inform potential longterm care clients about the quality of homes based on a direct set of measures.

State Health Department Web Pages • www.emory.edu/WHSCL/grady/inetgrp/phstate.html
This site simply has an alphabetical list of links to the websites of state health departments. It's very handy for quick reference to the Department of Health for each of the 50 states.

US Administration on Aging — Elders and Families • www.aoa.gov/eldfam/eldfam.asp
This government website provides extensive reference to information about nutrition, promoting healthy lifestyles, Alzheimer's disease, services for seniors, elder rights, the Older Americans Act, and other legislative information.

USDA Healthy School Meals Resource Center • http://schoolmeals.nal.usda.gov/
This resource includes regulations, menus, software information, and much more for school lunch program operators.

Also see legislative food safety information — FDA Food Code and more — in the Food Protection area