Diabetes

Amid two seemingly unrelated trends, the rise of high-deductible health plans and the growing prevalence and burden of chronic diseases, it may time to rethink the concept and regulation of preventive services, argue advocates of value-based insurance.

Gregory L. Fricchione, MD, of Harvard Medical School, says that primary care physicians and specialists alike can benefit from a heuristic equation that considers a patient's stress and resilience levels.

Modern life is full of stress, and understanding how stress affects the brain is essential to developing ways to prevent its harmful effects on the body, according to Gregory Fricchione, MD, of Harvard Medical School.

Takaji Kittaka Jr, MD, has coordinated the integration of 3 hospitals, 2800 employees, and disparate physicians, while helping to create nurse navigator positions and population managers. Uniting all of these specialties in the common goal of achieving greater alignment was the topic of Dr Kittaka's presentation at the National Association of Managed Care Physicians' Spring Managed Care Forum 2014 in Orlando.

In obese patients, we assessed the lack of advice to lose weight and its association with cardiovascular risk using the REGICOR chart (adaption of Framingham).

Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says that Aetna recognizes the implications of the obesity epidemic and how it contributes to a variety of other medical problems such as diabetes and hypertension.

Out-of-pocket expenses for diabetes treatment have gone down for many U.S. patients over the past decade, according to a new study. But nearly a quarter of people with diabetes still face high expenses.

Women with diabetes are 14 percent less likely to be screened for breast cancer compared to women without diabetes, according to a study. "Managing the demands of a chronic condition such as diabetes is challenging for many women, leaving other preventative actions, like screening for cancer, to fall by the wayside," said a physician and author. "Our study found having diabetes posed a significant barrier to breast cancer screening even after considering a woman's socioeconomic status, a known contributor to disparities in care among women."

As hundreds of thousands of diabetics get health coverage under the federal law, insurance companies are aggressively targeting this glut of new patients, who are expensive to treat and often lax in taking medications and following their diet.

The American Journal of Managed Care brought together than 125 diabetes advocates, providers, and educators, along with health plan leaders and pharmaceutical executives, to Princeton, N.J. Attendees gained insights into giving persons with diabetes with the right level of support to manage their disease.