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Caring for Individuals with Diabetes a Priority in Michigan, United States

For Immediate Release: February 12, 2015
 

LANSING, Mich. – More than 29 million Americans now have diabetes and another 86 million, or more than one in three adults, have prediabetes. The American Diabetes Association estimates the disease costs the country $245 billion annually. In an effort to improve care for diabetes, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is encouraging the use of the recently released National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) Guiding Principles for the Care of People with or at Risk for Diabetes, a work that highlights clinically useful areas of care.

NDEP described the purpose of the Guiding Principles as assisting with identification and management of the disease, self-management support for patients, physical activity and blood glucose control, among other topics. The set of ten guiding principles was supported by more than a dozen professional organizations and federal agencies.

The ten guiding principles focus on: identifying undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes, managing prediabetes, providing self-management education and support, providing individualized nutritional therapy, encouraging regular physical activity, controlling blood glucose, reducing cardiovascular risk (including blood pressure control and tobacco use cessation), detecting and monitoring microvascular complications, considering special populations, and providing patient-centered diabetes care. Each principle is described more fully in the document, which is available to download from the NDEP website at http://ndep.nih.gov/media/Guiding_Principles_508.pdf.

In Michigan, about one in ten adults has diabetes, and another 250,000 Michigan adults are thought to have diabetes that has not yet been diagnosed.  Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME), available through 90 MDCH certified programs, addresses the topics presented in the Guiding Principles and assists people with or at risk for diabetes in developing plans for managing their condition long-term. The certified DSME programs served over 31,500 people in Michigan between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014. DSME programs are certified for quality purposes based on the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support.

To find the certified DSME program closest to you, please visit http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-2940_2955_2980-13791--,00.html or contact Dawn Crane at craned@michigan.gov. 

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