Adherence to Metformin, Statins, and ACE/ARBs Within the Diabetes Health Plan (DHP).

Background: Reducing patient cost-sharing and engaging patients in disease management activities have been shown to increase uptake of evidence-based care.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of employer purchase of a disease-specific plan with reduced cost-sharing and disease management (the Diabetes Health Plan/DHP) on medication adherence among eligible employees and dependents.

Design: Employer-level "intent to treat" cohort study, including data from eligible employees and their dependents with diabetes, regardless of whether they were enrolled in the DHP.

Association of Medicare Part D low-income cost subsidy program enrollment with increased fill adherence to clopidogrel after coronary stent placement.

Study Objective: To determine the association between enrollment in the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy (LIS) program, which reduces out-of-pocket medication costs, and fill adherence to the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel after coronary stent placement.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Data Source: Pharmacy claims database of a large national Medicare Part D insurer.

Optimizing enrollment in employer health programs: a comparison of enrollment strategies in the Diabetes Health Plan.

Background: Many health programs struggle with low enrollment rates.

Objectives: To compare the characteristics of populations enrolled in a new health plan when employer groups implement voluntary versus automatic enrollment approaches.

Study Design: We analyzed enrollment rates resulting from 2 different strategies: voluntary and automatic enrollment.

Depression and all-cause mortality in persons with diabetes mellitus: are older adults at higher risk? Results from the Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes Study.

Objectives: To compare the strength of the association between depression and mortality between elderly and younger individuals with diabetes mellitus.

Design: A survival analysis conducted in a longitudinal cohort study of persons with diabetes mellitus to test the association between depression and mortality in older (≥ 65) and younger (18-65) adults.

Setting: Managed care.

Evaluation of the diabetes health plan to improve diabetes care and prevention.

Investigators from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and members of the leadership and data analysis teams at UnitedHealthcare (UHC) are partnering to evaluate the Diabetes Health Plan (DHP), an innovative disease-specific insurance product designed by UHC specifically for patients with prediabetes or diabetes. The DHP provides improved access to care management, telephone coaching, and enhanced Internet-based communication with enrollees. The evaluation will use a quasi-experimental design, comparing patients from employer groups that offer the DHP with patients from groups that do not, to determine the effect of the DHP on incidence of diabetes, adherence to metformin, and costs of care among patients with prediabetes.

The Association of Depression and the Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Blood Pressure, HbA1c, and Body Mass Index among Patients with Diabetes: Results from the Translating Research into Action for Diabetes Study.

Diabetic patients are nearly three times as likely to have depression as their nondiabetic counterparts. Patients with diabetes are already at risk for poor cardiovascular health. Using cross-sectional data from the translating research into action for diabetes (TRIAD) study, the authors tested the association of depression with cardiovascular risk factors in diabetic patients.