DxCG Intelligence Determines Diabetes Impact

Over 25 million people (about 8% of the population) in the United States suffer from diabetes. In 2012 alone, diabetes cost Americans $245 billion—an increase of 41% since 2007.

One leading health plan wanted to understand how diabetes impacted both their population and their bottom line. They hoped that deeper analysis around costs of the disease would help them target outreach services towards those most likely to consume expensive medical treatments.

The plan used Verisk Health's DxCG Intelligence to stratify their data. They discovered that diabetes was their second most expensive chronic condition—an average of $13,588 per diabetic member—four times the cost of an average plan member.

Looking closer at the data, the plan discovered that 35% of diabetic members drove 78% percent of their diabetes-associated costs. Many of these individuals suffered from multiple chronic conditions. The plan identified this subgroup as the most likely to be hospitalized—and so targeted them for outreach and intervention programs.

Armed with new information, the plan redesigned their diabetes program around more finely-tuned risk levels, added a gerontologist to their team to lead their chronic condition management program, and implemented a PCP education campaign that encouraged pediatricians to screen children early for the disease.

By stratifying their diabetic population and identifying focused areas for intervention, this plan significantly improved their ability to address the expected increase in diabetes over the coming years. Further, by systematically capturing this data, the plan is poised to make better strategic decisions around disease management and cost-containment initiatives over the long term.