A new study has revealed that a lack of education is the major obstacle in a reduction in total health care costs for patients with Diabetes. In this study, patients who received some form of diabetes education were less likely to be hospitalized compared to their uneducated counterparts.
Patients diagnosed with diabetes can benefit from educational classes about their condition. Studies show that attending meetings with a nutritionist or taking classes about the condition reduced the amount of the financial costs associated with hospitalization for those with diabetes or diabetes related illnesses.
In the study, more than 18,000 patients with diabetes were followed for an average of nearly 5 years. During that time, more than 1,000 attended at least one class on diabetes, more than 1,500 visited the nutritionist at least one time and nearly 350 attended a health education visit.
Of all the patients studied, nearly 2,500 received some form of diabetes education during the study. Of these patients, the hospitalization rate was 34 % lower than their uneducated counterparts. The uneducated diabetic patients tallied hospital visits of 38 per 100 years while the educated diabetic hospitalization rate was only 25 per 100 years.
In the patients that received some form of education, the cost of health care was lowered by nearly $12,000 in hospital charges alone. Of all the visits, the patients who chose the nutritionist for their diabetes education showed the greatest lowering of costs and hospitalization.
