Report: Diabetes costs account for nearly a quarter of all hospital spending

The Fiscal Times examines a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality about diabetes, "a disease that's costing Americans $83 billion a year in hospital fees—23 percent of total hospital spending. ... Add to this the costs of the hidden diabetes epidemic: $18 billion for the estimated 6.3 million people with undiagnosed diabetes, and $25 billion for 57 million, or one in four, American adults with pre-diabetes. Those with pre-diabetes are likely to develop Type 2 diabetes within 10 years. If the current trend continues, one in three children faces a life with diabetes." The Fiscal Times adds that, to cut the incidence and save the health care system money, patients should have "a multi-disciplinary team, such as a nurse and a dietitian in addition to a regular physician, to tackle things like diet and exercise counseling, as well as increasing diabetes education" (Briody, 8/19).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.