Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute is the data analytic center for the recently launched registry, the first of its kind to include specialists and primary care providers, and focus on outpatient care. Its goals: Track, measure, and benchmark diabetes care delivery across the primary and specialty care continuum — and potentially transform the care of patients with diabetes.
In the United States alone, one out of every 10 people has diabetes. Another 86 million are considered prediabetic. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death for this population.
The American College of Cardiology leads the Diabetes Collaborative Registry in partnership with the American Diabetes Association, American Association for Clinical Endocrinologists, American College of Physicians, and Joslin Diabetes Center.
Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute was a natural fit to serve in an academic leadership role. Mikhail Kosiborod, M.D., Saint Luke’s cardiologist and chair of the registry’s steering committee, had recognized the need for cardiologists to become more involved in diabetes management for some time.
“Patient care in general has become fragmented, and diabetes is a perfect example. It’s a chronic condition with multiple complications that require specialty care and care coordination,” Dr. Kosiborod said. “Although we have clinical guidelines for management and performance measures, there hasn’t been a concerted effort on the national scale to measure the quality of care and figure out how we’re actually doing. It’s the first step to identify opportunities for improvement, and it needs to be a team effort.”
Representatives from all partner associations serve on committees and subcommittees. Within its first year, the registry gathered data from:
- More than 1 million patient encounters
- ~3000 primary and specialty providers
- ~1200 practice locations in 36 states
And it’s still growing. The analytics teams at ACC and Saint Luke’s receive data updates several times a year and will ultimately share reports on key performance metrics with participants. The data will also yield research opportunities. Saint Luke’s cardiologist Suzanne Arnold, M.D., is on the research and publications sub-committee that will evaluate proposals.
Timing couldn’t be more critical. Trends predict diabetes cases will triple by 2050.
“The main purpose of registries like this is to measure and track quality of care at different centers so we have an idea of how we’re doing,” Dr. Kosiborod said. “But they also become a rich source to generate new knowledge on how to best care for patients.”
Funding for the registry is provided by AstraZeneca and Boehringer-Ingelheim.