Diabetic Round-up Program proposed in New York

Diabetic Round-up Program proposed in New York

The Board of Health in New York City is gung-ho on a new initiative which aims to monitor diabetics in the city. The purpose is to have better understanding of how the patients are progressing in the treatment of their disease, send discreet reminders and hence prevent undue loss of life due to neglect and crisis in the disease.

The board has instructed pathology centers to share with the health department, even minute data of patients' diabetes tests, hoping, in the process, to save many lives in severe cases. The information will be forwarded by electronic means to the department for analysis, identification of problems in controlling the disease and contact by phone or letter by the patients' doctors, urging them towards proper and consistent medication, checkups or diet and lifestyle management.

The labs are required to send data from A1c tests, which happen to be more specific and detailed than the simplistic blood sugar tests done by patients themselves.

The step is seen as a pioneering step amongst American cities. Such measures have been taken in the past only for infectious diseases like HIV Aids, tuberculosis or hepatitis. For a disease which is neither infectious nor triggered by environmental poisoning, the effort is being viewed as unusual, raising some confidentiality issues in the process. The main points of criticism are that patients have no say in the matter and that the data could get leaked out to insurance people who may misuse it.

However, in an attempt to dispel such doubts, health commissioner of New York, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden maintained that the effort's capacity to help diabetics is substantially more than the issue of medical confidentiality. He also reassured patients that the maximum will be done to protect individual privacy without compromising on the goal of health care, adding that those insistent on the former might be given a choice to back out. He was of the opinion that since diabetes is the fourth leading killer disease in the city, it was important to track it like any other infectious illness. If it is monitored effectively, crippling side effects like blindness,
kidney malfunctioning and heart ailments can be avoidable.

On Wednesday, the board was unanimous about starting the process. When this widespread and novel thought was suggested last year, the reaction was a mix of fear and enthusiasm. Currently, the health department is optimistic about roping in a minimum of 90 percent of diabetics in the city.

The effort requisite for success is a huge dedication of time and other resources. If all goes well, about 500,000 diabetics will come under the purview of the initiative. Several pathology centers possess existent electronic filing, which makes the mammoth task a bit easier. The major expenditure area will be the cost of streamlining the data, which is approximately 1 million dollars annually. The subsequent contact program is hoped to be sponsored by both private and government contributions.

The American Diabetes Association was quiet on the issue this time around, but generally it is supportive, maintaining that patients should have a choice to participate in such a program

In 2003, 1,891 New Yorkers succumbed to diabetes. According to the health department, 520,000 adults have contracted the disease and another 265,000 people have it but are not aware.