patients with Type 2 diabetes in the Chicago seven-county metropolitan area and other Illinois The Chicago Area Diabetes Report for 2007 presents an overview of …
MBGH Media Contact: Cary Conway cary@conwaycommunicationcom 972-731-9242
New Report Reveals Diabetes a Greater Problem in Chicago Than Other Communities City has higher number of patients with diabetes and lower number of people receiving recommended monitoring and preventive services than other urban communities
CHICAGO December 6, 2007 The non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health MBGH announced today the release of a new report on the prevalence, costs and quality of care for patients with Type 2 diabetes in the Chicago seven-county metropolitan area and other Illinois and Midwest communities The Chicago Area Diabetes Report for 2007 presents an overview of patient demographics, utilization of clinical services and drug therapy for Type 2 Diabetes patients and national benchmarks This report was developed to help employers identify opportunities to address the increasing prevalence and complications of diabetes for their employees, dependents and retirees Produced with assistance from sanofi-aventis, the report is publicly available and can be accessed at MBGHs Web site: http://wwwmbghorg/indexphp?tinitiatives/Diabetes_brief
Diabetes has a significant impact on an
employers medical and productivity costs and the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes is higher in the Chicago area than many other metropolitan regions, said Larry Boress, president of MBGH We hope this information serves as a call to action for employers to assist their covered populations in the identification, diagnosis, education, treatment and self-management of this debilitating and costly disease
Key report findings Prevalence of diabetes in Chicago is higher than the Illinois and national diabetes prevalence rates Chicago workers ages 18-64 account for a higher share of the Type 2 diabetes population than other Illinois and Midwest cities and the nation Females account for a larger percentage 62 percent of patients with Type 2 diabetes in Chicago area than males The number of Chicago area Type 2 diabetes patients who received the recommended eye exams and A1c tests a test that helps a diabetic patient determine their average
blood glucose control for the past two to three months to understand how well their diabetes treatment plan is working were each lower than those in three of the four Midwest cities profiled Type 2 diabetes patients in Chicago have a higher percentage of
complications and comorbidities other health conditions that exist at the same time as the primary condition in the same patient such as hypertension than diabetes patients nationally
Hospira chose to participate in MBGHs Taking Control of Your Health diabetes selfmanagement program to help reduce the costs and improve the health of our employees with diabetes, said Pam Hannon, director, Benefits, Hospira By providing financial incentives through waived co-pays and additional education, we believe we will have happier and healthier employees as well as lower long-term medical and absenteeism costs for this group Most importantly, employee response has been overwhelmingly favorable, with more than 130 individuals enrolled in the program to date
Type 2 diabetes, which typically appears first in adulthood and is exacerbated by obesity and an inactive lifestyle, produces high blood glucose levels caused by either a lack of insulin or the bodys inability to use insulin efficiently According to 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 The data in the Chicago Area Diabetes Report for 2007 were gathered by Verispan LLC, Yardley, Pa About the Midwest Business Group on Health wwwmbghorg Founded in 1980, the Chicago-based Midwest Business Group on Health MBGH is one of the nations leading non-profit coalitions of private and public employers MBGHs 85 members provide health benefits to over 2 million covered lives, spending more than 23 billion on health care benefits on an annual basis MBGH offers employers a variety of quality and community initiatives, group purchasing programs health benefit educational seminars and networking opportunities MBGH is a member of the National Business Coalition on Health
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