Nurse-run, telephone-based outreach to improve lipids in people with diabetes.

Background: There is a need for randomized, prospective trials of case management interventions with resource utilization analyses.

Objectives: To determine whether algorithm-driven telephone care by nurses improves lipid control in patients with diabetes.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled trial.

Participants: Adults with diabetes at a federally funded community health center were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 381) or usual-care (n = 381) groups.

Interventions: Nurses independently initiated and titrated lipid therapy and promoted behavioral change through motivational interviewing and self-management techniques. Other parameters of diabetes care were addressed based on time constraints.

Main Measures: The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a low-density lipoprotein (LDL) less than 100 mg/dL. Secondary outcomes included the number of hospital admissions, total hospital charges per patient, and the proportion of patients meeting other lipid, glycemic, and blood pressure guidelines.

Key Results: The percent of patients with an LDL < 100 mg/dL increased from 52.0% to 58.5% in the intervention group and decreased from 55.6% to 46.7% in the control group (P < .01). Average cost per patient to the healthcare system was less for the intervention group ($6600 vs $9033, P = .03). Intervention patients trended toward fewer hospital admissions (P = .06). The intervention did not affect glycemic and blood pressure outcomes.

Conclusions: Nurses can improve lipid control in patients with diabetes in a primarily indigent population through telephone care using moderately complex algorithms, but a more targeted approach is warranted. Telephone-based outreach may decrease resource utilization, but more study is needed.