Quality of Care Depends on Where You Live

Persons with diabetes living in New England, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest are more likely to get hemoglobin A1C tests and eye examinations than those in other locations.

On the other hand, blood fat or lipid tests are more frequent in the mid-Atlantic states and some Southern coastal states than elsewhere. Those are just a few of the findings of a new survey of 2 million Medicare patients with diabetes nationwide.

The study, the results of which were published in the December 2002 issue of Diabetes Care, is considered the largest of its kind. It concludes with a call for more research into why such variability exists from region to region.