Diabetes

Economists specialize in pointing out unpleasant trade-offs - a skill that is on full display in the health care debate.

Wade M. Aubry, MD, associate clinical professor, University of California, San Francisco, continues discussions saying that comparative effectiveness research (CER) and the evolution of evidence-based medicine can facilitate innovations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), especially with the inclusion of value-based insurance design (VBID).

The effort to drive quality-based performance in physicians is now evident in the provision of preventive medicine.

Albert Tzeel says providers must consider how aspects of the changing healthcare landscape may affect their performance.

Annual ACO survey shows care coordination remains a work in progress for many providers.

Fewer hospital admissions and trips to the ER, and better and less costly diabetes care, are among the 2012 results of the patient-centered medical home program of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the insurer announced.

In this segment, William Herman, MD, MPH, analyzes Dr Huckfeldt's presentation on glycemic targeting from a health service and clinical research perspective.

In this video segment Dr. Huckfeldt discussed factors contributing to low levels of glycemic control. Patient, medication and physician factors can all effect medication adherence.

Anupam Jena, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Policy, Harvard Medical School, presented research on how therapeutic choice and patient outcomes vary at the physician level.

In her keynote address Anne Peters, MD, CDE, Director, Clinical Diabetes Program, University of Southern California, opened the meeting by defining what patient-centered care is. Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, values, and ensuring that patients are involved in all clinical decisions, said Dr. Peters. She emphasizes the importance of looking to the needs of the individual patient and make decisions.

Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes who are at the lowest levels of healthcare consumption often become some of the highest level consumers in subsequent years.

Ronald J. Sigal, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine, cardiac sciences, kinesiology, and community health sciences at the University of Calgary in Canada, and a Health Senior Scholar at the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, pulls from his experience to discuss the reality of the current expectations and goals for exercise and physical activity in the overweight or obese patient with diabetes, and offers his solutions.

Philip R. Schauer, MD, the director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute (BMI) at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio contends that accountable care organizations (ACOs) need to recognize obesity as a legitimate disease that is the basis for many other serious conditions. He emphasizes that obesity certainly requires treatment, and surgery is an appropriate intervention for certain patients.

Carl Dean Benton, RPh, explains how pharmacists can contribute to improvements in patient care through counseling programs. With the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, many insurers may begin to recognize the benefits of pharmacist-driven counseling initiatives, and integrate these programs to help improve outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Todd Brusko, PhD, of the Todd M. Brusko Laboratory at the University of Florida College of Medicine, discussed how knowledge of regulatory T-cells has grown and improved, and noted that research has now entered a phase of harnessing the potential of our immune system through specific cell populations to combat root causes of type 1 diabetes (T1DM).