Cost of Diabetes Care, Fiscal Year End Update
Research highlighting the high cost of diabetes is likely to be helpful in terms of policy debates and decision making in addressing health care and prevention issues associated with diabetes. A 2008 update on the costs of diabetes care revealed that we have spent an estimated $174 billion dollars in 2007 including $116 billion dollars in excess medical expenditures and $58 billion dollars in reduced productivity.
How does this compare with the report released in Diabetes Care, 2003? According to that report, we had spent an estimated $132 billion dollars by the end of fiscal year 2002 in diabetes care with direct medical expenditures totaling $91.8 billion dollars. Physician visits accounted for 10.9% of the cost in 2002 and had dropped by 2007 to 9% of the cost. However, total cost for inpatient stays in the hospital had increased from 43.9% of dollars spent in 2002 to 50% of dollars spent in 2007.
Over the course of both reports, people with diabetes have approximately 2.4 times the medical expenditures that would be incurred by the same group of people without diabetes. Of interest in these statistics is that physician visits for the care of diabetes dropped by 1.9% while dollars spent for inpatient hospital stays increased by 6.1% of dollars spent.
We need to do a better job at proactively treating people with diabetes not only to keep the rising costs down, but to increase quality of life. More proactive care is called for at the level of the healthcare professional including the doctor, nurses and dietitians to help people with diabetes care for their illness and keep them out of the hospital with avoidable complications.
Reference: American Diabetes Association. 2008. Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2007. Diabetes Care: 31 (3).
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/misc/econcosts.pdf
About the Author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
