Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of diabetes
self-management education/training (DSME/T) on financial outcomes (cost of
patient care).
Methods
Commercial and Medicare claims payer-derived datasets were used to assess
whether patients who participate in diabetes education are more likely to
follow recommendations for care than similar patients who do not participate
in diabetes education, and if claims of patients who participate in diabetes
education are lower than those of similar patients who do not.
Results
Patients using diabetes education have lower average costs than patients
who do not use diabetes education. Physicians exhibit high variation in their
referral rates to diabetes education.
Conclusions
The collaboration between diabetes educators and physicians yields positive
clinical quality and cost savings. The analysis indicates that quality can be
improved, and cost reduced, by increasing referral rates to diabetes education
among low-referring physicians, specifically among men and people in
disadvantaged areas. More needs to be done to inform physicians about ways to
increase access to diabetes education for underserved populations. |