Compendium of Diabetes Best Practices

The Compendium of Diabetes Best Practices assists health care providers by improving the screening, monitoring, and treatment of diabetic patients. It was developed by the Texas Medical Foundation under a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Compendium is available for download in Portable Document File format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or higher, and can be obtained at the Adobe Web site. For more information about the Compendium, please contact us at .

Section One: Improving Clinical Effectiveness

Section One contains abstracts of published clinical effectiveness studies, i.e., the investigators tested interventions designed to improve the quality of diabetes care. These studies were identified by a literature search performed by the Center for Health Studies at the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound. TMF and CMS assembled an expert review panel to review these studies and determine those which should be included in the Compendium.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had developed a tool for reviewing intervention studies, and this CDC tool was modified for the review of diabetes studies. Inclusion criteria addressed the methodology of each study, e.g., appropriateness of the study’s design, validity of the measures adequacy of the sample size, and meaningful results.

Reviewers were asked not to consider the studies’ generalizability, feasibility, nor cost in their recommendations. These aspects of the studies should be evaluated by readers if they wish to apply the studies’ interventions to their own health care setting.

Section Two: Federally Funded Diabetes Quality Improvement Projects

Section Two contains abstracts describing federally funded diabetes quality improvement projects. The projects were conducted by the Indian Health Service, Medicare quality improvement organizations, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Section Three: Worksite and Community Based Quality Improvement Projects

Section Three contains abstracts of diabetes quality improvement projects conducted in work sites or those that grew out of community collaborations. These projects were identified and described by the American Association of Health Plans.

Section Four: Bibliography – Clinical Efficacy

Section Four is a bibliography containing clinical efficacy studies which form the evidence base for excellent diabetes care. This bibliography is based on literature reviews performed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Center for Health Studies at the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound. The diabetes related topics addressed by these studies are:

· Glycemic control;
· Foot care;
· Eye care;
· Renal disease;
· Hypertension and cardiovascular disease;
· Lipid management; and
· Patient education.

Section Five: Appendix

Section Five is an appendix which contains the review tool used to evaluate the published literature for Section One.

Compendium Updates

The compendium will be updated periodically and we need your help in identifying recent studies and projects for inclusion. To suggest additions to the compendium, contact:

Jim Turpin
Project Director
Texas Medical Foundation
Barton Oaks Plaza Two, Suite 200
901 Mopac Expressway South
Austin, Texas 78746-5799

e-mail:
toll free: 1-888-691-9167
fax: 512-327-7159