Medicare Beneficiaries - In the 9th Statement of Work (SOW), QIOs will address health disparities in ways that directly correlate with the CMS and QIO Program goal of ensuring safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, equitable care for all Medicare benefi ciaries.
Health Disparities

If you live in DC, GA, LA, MD, NY or VI and you would like to receive information about free diabetes self-management education, click the appropriate link below:

Physicians
Community Health Workers
Certified Diabetes Educators
Medicare Beneficiaries

If you would like to talk with a health disparities representative, please call
1-877-746-6465.

 Every Diabetic Counts Program

On August 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Every Diabetic Counts program. Every Diabetic Counts is a program designed to assemble the community, medical, and public health partnerships and resources that can improve diabetes outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries. Through diabetes self-management education (DSME), the program seeks to create a greater awareness among people with diabetes and their families.

Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) in the following states and jurisdictions are participating in this initiative:

  • District of Columbia: Delmarva Foundation for the District of Columbia
  • Georgia: Georgia Medical Care Foundation (GMCF)
  • Louisiana: Louisiana Health Care Review
  • Maryland: Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care
  • New York: IPRO
  • U.S. Virgin Islands: Virgin Islands Medical Institute

The DSME classes are focused on diabetes and its risk factors, nutrition, fitness and medication monitoring. Through increased access to DSME training for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes, CMS hopes to increase Medicare beneficiaries’ knowledge of diabetes and increase their self-management and self-monitoring skills. The ultimate goal of CMS is to reduce early mortality and disability among racial and ethnic minorities at high risk for diabetes by educating them on how to monitor and control their own health.
This site was created by the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care through funding by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Contract #HHSM-500-2008-CO9THC/CO0001.