Leveling the field: addressing health disparities through diabetes disease management.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationships among patient characteristics, labor inputs, and improvement in glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) level in a successful primary care-based diabetes disease management program (DDMP).


METHODS
We performed subanalyses to examine the relationships among patient characteristics, labor inputs, and improvement in A1C level within a randomized controlled trial. Control patients received usual care, while intervention patients received usual care plus a comprehensive DDMP.


METHODS
The primary outcome was improvement in A1C level over 12 months stratified by intervention status and patient characteristics. Process outcomes included the number of actions or contacts with patients, time spent with patients, and number of glucose medication titrations or additions.


RESULTS
One hundred ninety-three of 217 enrolled patients (88.9%) had complete 12-month followup data. Patients in the intervention group had significantly greater improvement in A1C level than the control group (-2.1% vs -1.2%, P = .007). In multivariate analysis, no significant differences were observed in improvement in A1C level when stratified by age, race/ethnicity, income, or insurance status, and no interaction effect was observed between any covariate and intervention status. Among intervention patients, we observed similar labor inputs regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, education, or whether goal A1C level was achieved.


CONCLUSIONS
Among intervention patients in a successful DDMP, improvement in A1C level was achieved regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, or insurance status. Labor inputs were similar regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, or education and may reflect the nondiscriminatory nature of providing algorithm-based disease management care.
Division of General Internal Medicine, Meharry Medical College, 1005 Dr DB Todd Jr Blvd, Nashville, TN 37208, USA. rwhite@mmc.edu
Richard O
RO
White
Darren A
DA
DeWalt
Robert M
RM
Malone
Chandra Y
CY
Osborn
Michael P
MP
Pignone
Russell L
RL
Rothman
D000368:Aged; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States
D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin