The South Texas Diabetes Initiative

The South Texas Diabetes Initiative is a community-driven effort to improve patient health outcomes and lower costs for the entire health system through appropriate diabetes management in South Texas (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties). This network of healthcare professionals, business leaders, government officials and patients are dedicated to finding solutions to today’s complex diabetes problems in the South Texas community.

Why South Texas?

  • The prevalence of adult diabetes is more than 20 percent higher in South Texas than the entire state of Texas – close to 70,000 people have adult diabetes.
  • More than one quarter of all people with diabetes in South Texas have uncontrolled diabetes (25.1 percent, as defined by hemoglobin A1C levels greater than 8).
  • A greater percentage of adult diabetics visit the ER or hospital than the national average.
  • Individuals in South Texas are uninsured at a rate more than double the national average, and more than 25 percent of the diabetic population in South Texas is uninsured.
Visit the U.S. Diabetes Index South Texas Edition. <http://diabetessouthtexas.com/>
Or to find out more about the South Texas Diabetes Initiative. <internal>

Intersted in finding out more data? Visit the U.S. Diabetes Index South Texas Edition.

 

Our Approach

We started from the ground up by talking with community members and healthcare leaders in South Texas to understand the barriers to appropriate diabetes care and management. In January 2012, more than 70 community leaders and representatives from local hospitals, patient advocacy groups, disease management organizations and businesses gathered together to review the state of diabetes in the region and develop a plan to improve diabetes care and management.

Based on these conversations, the South Texas Diabetes Initiative is working to develop a plan that will:

  • Address cultural considerations that influence adoption of appropriate diabetes care
  • Include community-based interventions that have been evaluated and proven successful in other markets
  • Help physicians and other healthcare providers make necessary changes to their practice structure to facilitate better diabetes care and patient adherence
  • Help increase overall awareness of appropriate diabetes care among the patient population in South Texas

 

Did You Know?

With type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. The majority of individuals with diabetes have type 2.1