Tag: diabetes

US initiative for prediabetes

 

The Lancet Diabetes logo24 April 2015

IN FOCUS       Health officials in the USA want physicians to help to reduce diabetes by asking at-risk patients to join diabetes prevention programmes.  Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.

“…Clinicians may be talking to patients about their elevated blood sugar, but if it isn’t diabetes, some do not take it very seriously”, Ann Albright, director of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation, told The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. “But the evidence is clear that the earlier you intervene, the greater the likelihood is of either preventing or delaying diabetes or, if someone already has diabetes, preventing or delaying the complications.”  [Continued: PDF ]…

Aging In Rural America

For older Americans, accessing high-quality care can be a challenge. For those in rural communities, it’s even harder.

By SUSAN JAFFE  Health Affairs January 2015 Volume 34, Number 1

Care in rural America: Dr. Robert Wergin goes over medications with Sharon Stutzman at the Milford Family Medical Center in rural Nebraska.

In the southeastern Nebraska town of Milford, population 2,100, Dr. Robert Wergin understands it’s not easy for some of his older patients to get to his office. Some may live on isolated farmsteads several miles out of town, and if they don’t drive, their son or daughter—if nearby—may have to take time off from work to bring them to their appointments because there’s no public transportation. Massive snowstorms are nothing special but still cause a wave of cancellations.

 

In addition to these challenges, rural America’s elderly tend to be poorer, have higher levels of chronic disease, and have a dwindling supply of health care providers, compared to their peers in urban communities, explains Brad Gibbens, deputy director of the University of North Dakota’s Center for Rural Health, in Grand Forks. And their support system is shrinking, as more young adults seeking job opportunities head out to urban areas. “The elderly [rural] population tends to stay put because that’s where they’ve lived all their lives, and there isn’t really an economic beacon that’s pulling them to another area,” he says. [Continued in Health Affairs, and PDF here]…

Diabetes, obesity, and the Affordable Care Act

lancet cover 2

Diabetes & Endocrinology, 9 June 2014

 

Under the new health law, Americans with chronic disorders cannot be denied health insurance. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.

Before President Barack Obama’s landmark health law took effect, obtaining affordable health insurance could be difficult for Americans with diabetes or obesity, if not impossible. Insurers that didn’t turn diabetic patients away could charge higher rates because these individuals had a pre-existing health problem, or they could exclude coverage for certain treatments for diabetes or other chronic disorders. Now such practices are prohibited under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)…but some insurers’ “bad habits” still linger. [MORE]…