Health Innovations and Nevada Health Care Coalition Release Report on the State of Diabetes in Nevada

Health Innovations and Nevada Health Care Coalition Release Report on the State of Diabetes in Nevada
12 November 2007
PRNewswire

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Innovations and the Nevada Health Care Coalition (NHCC) announced today the release of a new report on the demographics, costs and quality of care for people with Type 2 diabetes. The inaugural Nevada Type 2 Diabetes Report for 2007 presents an overview of patient demographics, hospital and provider charges, and utilization of clinical services and drug therapy for people with Type 2 Diabetes in key local markets in the state of Nevada. The Report also provides Phoenix, Ariz., and national benchmarks that can help employers and providers better identify opportunities to serve the needs of people with Type 2 diabetes.

"We believe you will find several improvement opportunities in this report," says Health Innovations principal Jerry Reeves. M.D. "For instance, the proportion of Nevada's diabetes patients with at least two serious diabetes complications or comorbidities is substantially higher than in Phoenix or the nation as a whole. And the proportion of commercial insurance diabetes patients receiving A1C tests in 2006 is below the national average."

Six in 10 Nevadans diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are working age

According to this report, nearly six of every 10 (59.2 percent) people with Type 2 Diabetes in 2006 in Nevada were between the ages of 18 and 64 years old, the prime working ages for most Americans. This was significantly more than the national average of 54.2 percent. Moreover, the percentage of Nevadans diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes who had two or more complications from the disease is 13.6 percent, sharply higher than the national average of 8.4 percent.

Insulin use is lower among Type 2 diabetes patients in Nevada

The share of people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in Nevada using any insulin product was substantially lower than that of the nation. In the state of Nevada, 29.5 percent of people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes used any insulin product, fractionally higher than the Las Vegas share (29.1 percent), but lower than Reno share (30.4 percent) and especially the national share (34.8 percent).

Quality of care shows positives

The quality of care indicators for Nevadans with Type 2 diabetes, a major concern, heralded more positive signs for employers who want to ensure that their employees receive appropriate care. The Nevada Type 2 Diabetes Report also provides the percentage of people with diabetes receiving recommended services, such as for glucose, Hemoglobin A1C and cholesterol blood tests, as well as eye exams and urine tests for glucose. The percentages for many of these care indicators are much closer to the corresponding national averages. For example, people with Type 2 diabetes in Nevada who received a Hemoglobin A1C test (a key marker for managing diabetes) in 2006 was 74.3 percent compared to the national average of 73.9 percent. But 83.0 percent of people with diabetes received the cholesterol test in Nevada compared to the national average of 83.7 percent.

Next Steps

According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control, more than 17 million Americans have diabetes, with an average of 1 million new cases being diagnosed each year in people over the age of 20. Nine out of ten of these patients have the Type 2 variety. The cost of diabetes in the US was approximately $132 billion in 2002, with $92 billion spent on medical services. The economic loss to the US economy due to higher rates of lost work time, disability and premature mortality associated with diabetes in the working population was approximately $40 billion in 2002. According to reports collated by Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity in Nevada increased by 28% between 2001 and 2006. And the prevalence of diabetes increased by 32% during the same 5 years. The health of Nevadans is getting worse.

Health Innovations and NHCC hope concerned citizens and stakeholders will develop, implement, and share results of interventions that improve the health status of Nevadans with obesity and diabetes. To indicate your interest in collaborating, contact healthinnovations@cox.net.

"We request that members of the health benefits and healthcare provider communities join us in our effort to improve communication about helpful information and resources for patients and their families in their work place, community, and health care sites," says Dr. Reeves. "We seek to pilot value-based health benefit programs with incentives that decrease barriers to the treatment and care these patients deserve. We intend to review and distribute descriptions of successful diabetes and obesity initiatives in Nevada. And we hope future annual updates of the Nevada Type 2 Diabetes Report will demonstrate that our health improvement interventions are effective."

About the Nevada Type 2 Diabetes Report for 2007

The Nevada Type 2 Diabetes Report for 2007 helps Health Innovations and NHCC to fulfill their commitment to their community health partners to promote and maintain a high quality, efficient and affordable health care delivery system. The report was produced with assistance from sanofi-aventis. All data are drawn from the Therapeutics Trends Summary(TM), part of the sanofi-aventis Managed Care Digest Series(R). The complete report is available in electronic format on NHCC's website at http://www.nhccreno.org/ and may be downloaded free of charge.

Health Innovations; Nevada Health Care Coalition

CONTACT: Jerry Reeves MD, Health Innovations LLC, +1-702-873-4943,HealthInnovations@cox.net

Web site: http://www.nhccreno.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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