Are you curious about how much money your company loses each year paying for poor care for diabetes? If so, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a new tool that is designed to help you better estimate how you can save money while still paying health care costs for your employees who have diabetes.

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States. More than 23 million Americans have diabetes, and of those, approximately 14 million are working age adults.

The direct medical costs for treating diabetes are $116 billion, not including the costs for people with undiagnosed diabetes, with an additional $58 billion spent for indirect costs such as missed workdays, according to data from the American Diabetes Association.

In addition, according to AHRQ data, diabetes accounted for more than 70 million outpatient visits in the U.S., a 96 percent increase between 1996 and 2006.

AHRQ’s Diabetes Cost Calculator will allow you to estimate your bottom-line costs for diabetes care and calculate the savings you could realize through better management of the disease. The tool makes these estimates based on the type, location, and size of a business and other factors including:

· Number of people with diabetes.
· Annual diabetes-related medical costs.
· Annual diabetes-related productivity costs.
· Potential savings associated with better management of diabetes.

Users can adjust potential savings based on the percentage of employees who are likely to be helped. For example, a 1 point reduction in average hemoglobin levels, which help determine how well blood sugar has been controlled, could save an Illinois manufacturing company with 500 employees over $40,000 a year in direct health care expenses and lost productivity costs among its employees and dependents with diabetes. In another example, that same reduction in hemoglobin levels for a college in Mississippi with 1,000 employees could save over $100,000 by helping its employees and their dependents with diabetes better manage their diabetes care.

AHRQ developed the Diabetes Cost Calculator in response to a request from the Mid-Atlantic Business Group on Health and in partnership with the National Business Coalition on Health.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)