Education Leads to Fewer Hospitalizations Kaiser Permanente, a health maintenance organization, is offering an approach to care known as Diabetes Population Care Management. This system gathers comprehensive information about all aspects of a patient's medical treatment.
Healthy employees are happy employees.
According to Kaiser Permanente, caring for people with diabetes costs nearly four times more than caring for a member without the disease, due to increased outpatient visits, lab services, drugs and the cost of treating complications of the disease, including hospital care and additional medical procedures. A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson says that these complications are preventable or can be delayed with aggressive diabetes management. Multidisciplinary teams of primary care physicians, eye specialists, dietitians, social workers and health educators provide coordinated services. Clinical practice guidelines developed by physicians identify which medical approaches work best in which situations. Health education through classes, groups and videos help patients with diabetes learn self-care strategies.