Findings from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Update Knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid (Does Rapid Diffusion of HbA1c Testing Affect Amputation…

Findings from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Update Knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid (Does Rapid Diffusion of HbA1c Testing Affect Amputation Rates?)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Fresh data on Medicare and Medicaid are presented in a new report. According to news reporting originating in Lebanon, New Hampshire, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "The association of speed of diffusion of Hemoglobin A1C (hbA1c) testing with temporal changes in outcomes of primary importance to patients with diabetes, such as amputation, remains an issue of debate. We investigated these correlations."

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, "We performed a retrospective cohort study of diabetics, based on Medicare fee-for-service claims data from 2002 to 2012. We examined the association of the rate of diffusion of HbA1c testing with changes in amputation rates. Our unit of analysis was the hospital referral region (HRR), a definition of tertiary care markets defined in the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. From the 11 096 270 diabetics followed in our study for a mean follow-up of 4.1 years, 106 340 (0.96%) underwent lower extremity amputations. The speed of diffusion of HbA1c testing had a moderate association with the speed of diffusion of lower extremity amputations, after adjusting for multiple factors including baseline regional amputation and testing rates (adjusted difference, -0.7%; 95% confidence interval, -1.0% to -0.3%). The risk-adjusted HRR-level speed of diffusion of testing demonstrated significant correlation with the risk-adjusted HRR-level diffusion of amputations (r = .250, P< .001). We observed a moderate association of the speed of diffusion of HbA1c testing with the speed of diffusion of lower extremity amputations among Medicare patients with diabetes."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Improvements in performance on quality metrics such as HbA1c testing may not immediately translate into tangible patient outcomes."

For more information on this research see: Does Rapid Diffusion of HbA1c Testing Affect Amputation Rates? Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, 2016;50(4):211-216. Vascular and Endovascular Surgery can be contacted at: Sage Publications Inc, 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA. (Sage Publications - www.sagepub.com/; Vascular and Endovascular Surgery - ves.sagepub.com)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting K. Bekelis, Dartmouth Hitchcock Med Center, Vasc Surg Sect, Lebanon, NH 03766, United States. Additional authors for this research include D. Gottlieb, K. Newhall, A. Faerber and P. Goodney.

Keywords for this news article include: Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, North and Central America, Medicare and Medicaid, Health Policy, Medicare, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

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