Quality of Care Programs

External links to other sites are intended to be informational and do not have the endorsement of the Texas Department of State Health Services. These sites may also not be accessible to people with disabilities.

National Diabetes Education Program
The National Diabetes Education Program is a federally sponsored initiative, involving public and private partners, to improve the treatment and outcomes for people with diabetes, to promote early diagnosis, and ultimately, to prevent the onset of diabetes.

Health Disparities Collaboratives
A national effort to improve health outcomes for all medically underserved people with chronic diseases. »Go to site.

Recognized Education Programs
To promote quality education for people with diabetes, the American Diabetes Association endorses the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs. To support this goal, the Education Recognition Program assesses whether applicants meet the National Standards (pdf file, 103 kb). The Standards are designed to be flexible enough to be applicable in any health care setting, from physicians’ offices and HMOs to clinics and hospitals.

Visit the American Diabetes Association's Education Recognition Program page to find programs in Texas and other states, as well as recognized providers of quality diabetes care.

For a map of Texas with locations of recognized diabetes education programs in PDF format, click here (file size 339 kb).

Foot Care
The mission of the Podiatry Service of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is to create a standard of excellence in patient care, teaching, research, and service. Through programs in allied health, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate podiatric medical education, the faculty is committed to the provision of educational opportunities to health professionals whose long-term career objectives will be to provide excellence in health care in the most cost-effective wayand to seek information fundamental to the prevention and treatment of foot disorders and disease.

The updated (2000) version of the "Feet Can Last Lifetime" kit is now on the NDEP Website. You can download a copy of the kit by visiting
http://ndep.nih.gov/materials/pubs/feet/feet.htm.

The "Feet Can Last a Lifetime" kit, which can be used as a staff training tool, contains: ready-to-use exam forms, Medicare certification forms for therapeutic footwear, patient education handouts, and diabetes resource and reference information.

Texas Health Care Information Council
The Texas Health Care Information Council provides data that enable Texas consumers and health plan purchasers to make informed health care decisions. The Council's charge is to collect data and report on the quality performance of health maintenance organizations operating in Texas and hospitals. Their goal is to provide information that will enable consumers to have an impact on the cost and quality of health care in Texas.

Medicare Diabetes Quality Improvement Project
Texas Medical Foundation is the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas, one of 53 organizations working with Medicare to monitor and improve utilization and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. TMF monitors three quality indicators through its Diabetes Quality Improvement Project and shares their findings with the Texas Diabetes Council and its Outcomes and Standards Compliance Advisory Subcommittee. The quality indicators for the Project are annual hemoglobin A1c testing, biennial dilated eye exam, and biennial lipid profile. Visit the TMF Health Care Quality Improvement Program web site.

Last Updated July 12, 2005