New data released publicly today showing that significant progress has been made in the diagnosis of new cases of diabetes is good news for hospitals and health care at large. Hospitals are among the many types of organizations working in a targeted way to reduce the incidence of diabetes, and it appears to be having an effect, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitals are among the many types of organizations working in a targeted way to reduce the incidence of diabetes, and it appears to be having an effect.

The CDC data show that the age-adjusted incidence of diabetes per 1,000 members of the population fell to 6.6 in 2014, which is down 22 percent from its peak of 8.5 cases in 2008. In addition, that is the lowest rate seen since 2000 when there were 6.2 cases per 1,000 population members.

And despite the population growth, the absolute number of new cases also has fallen, dropping to 1.437 million in 2014 from a peak of 1.732 million in 2009.

Hospitals are creating programs specifically focused on the problem. "We see everything from disease management programs to group visits for diabetic patients; disease registries; more community outreach and prevention, particularly at the adolescent level, trying to deal with the obesity epidemic, all the way to the use of bariatric surgery," Joan Moss, R.N., senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Sg2’s Center for Performance Strategy, told H&HN contributing writer Geri Aston, for an article that was part of a series on the subject in 2013.

Another segment in the series identified five critical components to diabetes care from a population health management perspective:

• A focus on patient outcomes

• Strategic use of health information technology

• Use of a team approach

• Collaboration with primary care physicians

• Increasing patient engagement

At the same time, clinicians increasingly are looking to use individualized approaches to caring for patients based on their needs, which can vary significantly from patient to patient.

The issue of diabetes is a big one for hospitals, because diabetes as a principal or secondary diagnosis has found to increase the mean length of inpatient stay by almost a full day, as noted in the H&HN series.