Public Hospitals Help Vulnerable Populations Manage Diabetes

A study of seven public hospital networks looked at the care 75,000 diabetics received. "The study found that the hospitals helped diabetic patients control their blood-sugar levels to the same degree as diabetics in HMOs." Some of the numbers:
• 56% were uninsured or on Medicaid
• 34% of Latino patients and 37% of black patients had healthy blood-sugar levels, compared with 45% of white patients.
• 33% of uninsured patients had healthy blood-sugar levels, compared with 47% of Medicare patients. Medicare patients had the best blood-sugar levels, higher than those with private coverage.
Read the Kaiser summary to find out what professionals say is behind the numbers. There's also a link to the whole study in a PDF file. (Source: kaisernetwork.org)