HEALTHCARE DELIVERY
Optimal Diabetes Care: HbA1c Testing by Private Insurance
Diabetes is a disease that affects how food is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into the bloodstream. When too much blood sugar stays in the bloodstream, over time it can lead to serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and may lead to the amputation of toes, feet or legs. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
One of the commonly used tests to diagnose and manage diabetes is the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test which measures a patient’s average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. Higher HbA1c levels are linked to diabetes complications, so reaching and maintaining a patient’s HbA1c goal is important.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/managing-blood-sugar/a1c.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fdiabetes%2Flibrary%2Ffeatures%2Fa1c.htmlThis information represents a group of patients diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 and type 2) ages 18-75 who have private insurance.
- In 2015, the year prior to the CT SIM implementation, 80.4% of patients diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 and type2) ages 18-75 had HbA1c testing done.
- Since the implementation of CT SIM in 2016, the HbA1c testing increased to 85.9% in both 2016 and 2017 for patients diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 and type 2), ages 18-74.