Clinical and Economic Impact of Implementing a Comprehensive Diabetes Management Program in Managed Care

Diabetes mellitus places a significant burden on the U.S. health-care system. Because of the potential to reduce diabetic complications and costs through intensive management, diabetes has become a primary target for disease management programs. We performed a retrospective analysis of short-term baseline and follow-up clinical, economic, and member and provider satisfaction data from approx-imately 7,000 people with diabetes being treated through seven man-aged care plans using Diabetes Treatment Centers of America’s Di-abetes NetCareSM, (Nashville, TN), a comprehensive diabetes management program. Our analysis indicates that Diabetes Net-CareSM achieved gross economic adjusted savings of $50 per diabetic member per month (12.3%), with gross unadjusted savings of $44 (10.9%) per diabetic member per month. Hospital admissions per 1,000 diabetic member years decreased by 18%, and bed days fell by