The United States has the most advanced health system in the world. Patient access to medical specialists, pharmaceuticals and technology is unmatched. Our search for cures is also unparalleled. But why then is our care for diabetes — a disease whose complications can now be easily offset, postponed and even prevented — so far behind the rest of the world? Why is our knowledge of current standards in diabetes care so low that it ends up being the single greatest expense of an HMO? Isn't the objective of an HMO to prevent more serious health conditions in an effort to reduce more costly care?
No one can match the power of the managed care professional to make the simple, but sweeping changes necessary to control diabetes and its costs. Only you can hold the physicians accountable for remaining in the forefront of treatment advances. Only you can effectively lobby the legislature so that an epidemic like diabetes, which causes more harm and costs more money than AIDS and breast cancer combined, gets the proportional support and resources it deserves. And, only you are in a position to work toward reducing diabetes complications and therefore improving outcomes. It will do more than save lives. It will save your bottom line.
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