TRIAD Study: Implications for Diabetes Outcomes

Overview:
Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD) is a national study that was created to determine how managed care systems influence the processes and outcomes of diabetes care. This multi-center cohort study of diabetes care in managed care settings began in 1999 with funding from CDC and NIH.

TRIAD objectives were to describe factors related to the quality of care and to identify and evaluate disease management strategies by health plans or provider groups that enhance or impede the quality of diabetes care and health status of persons with diabetes. In the most recent analysis, 5086 participants responded to a survey that included the question, "In the past 12 months, did you use less medication than you wanted to or than was prescribed because of the cost?" Results suggest that in the US health system, it is not sufficient to merely prescribe the right drugs for chronic conditions. Good quality care requires the clinician to understand the patient's economic capacity to use the drugs as prescribed.

TRIAD includes six Translational Research Centers (TRCs). These centers collaborate with 10 health plans and 66 provider groups, which serve approximately 180,000 patients with diabetes. The health plans participating in TRIAD include staff model health maintenance organizations (HMO), network/IPA model HMOs, point of service (POS) plans, and preferred provider organizations (PPO). These plans include for-profit, not-for-profit, Medicare, and Medicaid providers. The 66 provider groups contracting with TRIAD’s partner health plans were also recruited into the study.  About 12,000 individuals participate in the survey.

Faculty
Stanley Schwartz, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Health System

Program Date
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Presentation