Contact: Kenley Money
Email: KMoney@uams.edu
This report was created as a supplement to the Arkansas Medicare Chronic Conditions Report as it provides a more detailed analysis of diabetes and complications of diabetes in Arkansas.
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement used Medicare claims data from 2012 and 2013 to analyze diabetes in adults 65 and older in all 75 Arkansas counties. They found that while diabetes prevalence rates are high in Arkansas, they vary greatly between counties. Studies showed counties who had a large percentage of their patients participating in routine Hemoglobin A1c tests that help to control their diabetes, avoided developing medical complications associated with diabetes. The report highlights the ways in which this information can be used by policymakers to help provide public health interventions to the counties in need and how to track the progress of each county in comparison to its neighbors and the state as a whole.