Abstract: 
Dr. Neda Laiteerapong, Associate Director for the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy, will be leading an analysis of difference in diabetes quality of care by health care setting. The goal of this research if to contribute to the improvement of care for the 30.3 million people with diabetes in the U.S. Developing proactive care is an issue of national priority given that the cost in the U.S. is an estimated $327 billion a year.
Dr. Laiteerapong and her team previously focused on patients receiving primary care in health center versus those accessing care through other forms of primary care settings. The findings supported the claim that costs for patients receiving care through health centers were much lower, yet this research did not analyze the differences in diabetes quality of care based on setting.
The research team will focus on examining the quality of care for those receiving treatment for diabetes by comparing outcomes between health centers, physician offices, hospital outpatients, and mixed-use groups.
Associated Authors: Dr. Marshall Chin, Richard Parrillo Family Professor of Healthcare Ethics; Elbert Huang, Professor of Medicine at The University of Chicago Department of Medicine; Dr. Neda Laiteerapong, Associate Director for the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy; Robert Nocon, Senior Health Services Researcher at the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation.
The Medicaid Working Group at the University of Chicago is among the first to use a national panel of MAX files to assess program-wide performance and disease prevalence both at a single point in time and over several years. The working group’s findings have and will continue to allow state Medicaid programs and federal policymakers to understand how shifts in the external policy environment are impacting the care of Medicaid beneficiaries, and will additionally facilitate efforts to identify opportunities to improve the coordination of resources for the growing Medicaid population.