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Results from Quality Initiatives on Diabetes Care

In 2000, Loyola's quality improvement for primary care began an education campaign with physicians and nurses to alert them to the national guidelines established by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

For the past five years, Loyola has followed the standards of care that the ADA publishes every year through its publication Diabetes Care regarding the proper levels/readings of cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, urine test, foot exam and vaccinations for diabetics.

Since April 2001, major health-care organizations like the American Medical Association, Joint Council on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance have all agreed on how health-care organizations should track the ADA's recommendations for quality improvement purposes. Loyola implemented these guidelines in July 2001 with great results.

On a quarterly basis, primary care doctors at Loyola who care for diabetics receive a detailed report with the lab results of that patient's visit. The report indicates if the patient is meeting the ADA national guidelines. Because diabetes is more than a blood sugar disease, it is important to consistently monitor all the components of the endocrine disorder. Our quality program is designed to do so, particularly with the overview of the lab results, which has been the key to our success. The report has been an excellent tool to ensure patients are receiving the full scope of services/tests at the appropriate time.

Since the program started, more than 500 patients' lab results have been analyzed each quarter. We have seen significant improvements and the data only gets better. Highlights from the most recent reports from April 2005 indicate that:

• 96% of Loyola patients had a HbA1C test (blood sugar) in the last year and 47% of these have met the ADA's goal of the HbA1C result being less than 7.0, which means their blood sugar is under control.
• 90% of Loyola patients had a cholesterol/lipid profile drawn in the last year and 58% of these had their LDL (bad cholesterol) level less than 100, which is the ADA goal.
• 68% of Loyola patients had a blood pressure under 140/90 and 38% were less than 130/80, which is consistent with the ADA guidelines.
• In addition, between 2003 and 2004, 66% of Loyola diabetics received a flu shot compared with 38% of diabetics for the state of Illinois.

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