Care planning and adherence to diabetes process guidelines: Medicare data analysis

This study sought to test the association, in patients with a diagnosis of diabetes I and II, between having or not having a care plan, (i.e. General Practice Management Plans (GPMP),Team Care Arrangements (TCA)), and having the recommended number of biochemical checks according to the diabetes Annual Cycle of Care guideline. The checks comprised HbA1c, HDL cholesterol, and urinary microalbumin. It was found that the creation of GPMPs was associated with general practitioners requesting checks for HbA1c (59.7%), HDL cholesterol (36.9%), and microalbumin (50.8%) for diabetes patients in accordance with guideline recommendations. Although the introduction of multidisciplinary care via a TCA was associated with an increase in the frequency of HbA1c checks (61.3%) in accordance with the guidelines, there was a reduction in the number of HDL cholesterol (23.7%) and microalbumin (36.8%) checks. The group with no care plans had the lowest association with HbA1c (47.8%), HDL cholesterol (19.7%), and microalbumin (29.3%) checks.