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The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), a joint federal program run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has joined forces with the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to help older adults understand that routine self-monitoring of blood sugar levels can help delay or prevent the complications of diabetes. The NDEP is working with HCFA to reach Americans 65 years and older as well as younger people with disabilities who have diabetes with information on the treatment and benefits available for people with Medicare. An estimated 4.5 million Medicare beneficiaries have diabetes.

"Educating the public, especially older Americans, about diabetes and its complications as well as providing increased access to diabetes treatment are the keys to reducing the risks of this serious public health problem," said Secretary Thompson. "It is so important that we get the word out that people with Medicare can use their benefits to better monitor and manage their diabetes."

Routine self-monitoring of blood sugar levels is crucial to adults with diabetes and their health care providers as they devise a treatment plan for managing their disease. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Complications from diabetes include kidney disease, heart disease, nerve damage, blindness, and lower limb amputation.

Several years ago Congress expanded the Medicare diabetes benefits to help both insulin and noninsulin-treated people with diabetes pay for the equipment and supplies they need to test their blood sugar levels. To use the benefit, a patient needs to ask the treating physician to prescribe blood sugar testing supplies, including blood sugar test strips, lancets, blood sugar testing monitors, and spring-powered devices for lancets. These supplies are available at little cost to people with Medicare. In addition, the treating physician should certify that the patient or his or her caregiver has been properly trained to use the equipment.

"Patients on fixed incomes often find it hard to purchase blood sugar monitoring equipment and supplies," said Michael McMullan, acting Deputy Administrator of HCFA, the government agency that manages the Medicare program. "Older adults as well as younger people with disabilities who have diabetes -- and their health care providers -- need to know that Medicare benefits are available to help them delay or prevent complications from diabetes."

"The emotional, physical, and financial toll of this disease is devastating, but, fortunately, the complications can be delayed or prevented. That is why it is so vital that people with diabetes, their families, and caregivers actively maintain a proper treatment plan. It is extremely important for people with diabetes to work closely with their health care provider to understand the role that self-monitoring their blood sugar might play in their care," according to Charles M. Clark, M.D., chairman of the NDEP Steering Committee. "With 2,186 new cases of diabetes diagnosed every day in the United States, many of them in older people, we believe that educating people with diabetes is key to controlling this silent killer. We know it is critical to a healthier aging process," he explained.

The department's Administration on Aging, which leads a national network of state and area agencies on aging, tribal organizations, service providers and volunteers, is assisting with the dissemination of the diabetes awareness educational materials.

The latest effort to raise awareness about the importance of routine self-monitoring of blood sugar comes amid renewed concerns about the dramatic increase in cases of diabetes nationwide, especially among ethnic and minority populations. The CDC has called diabetes the epidemic of our time. Currently, approximately 16 million Americans have diabetes, one-third of whom have been undiagnosed.

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