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Background: The burden of disease of diabetes in Colombia have increased in the last decades. Secondary prevention is crucial for diabetes control. Many patients already treated remain with poor glycemic control and without timely and appropriate treatment intensification. This has been called in the literature as Clinical Inertia. Updated information regarding clinical inertia based on the Colombian diabetes treatment guidelines is needed., Objective: To measure the prevalence of clinical inertia in newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients in healthcare institutions in Colombia, based on the recommendations of the current official guidelines., Methods: An observational and retrospective cohort study based on databases of two Health Medical Organizations (HMOs) in Colombia (one from subsidized regimen and one from contributory regimen) was conducted. Descriptive analysis was performed to summarize demographic and clinical information. Chi-square tests were used to assess associations between variables of interest., Results: A total of 616 patients with T2DM (308 for each regimen) were included. Median age was 61 years. Overall clinical inertia was 93.5% (87.0% in contributory regimen and 100% in subsidized regimen). Patients with Hb1Ac ≥ 8% in the subsidized regimen were more likely to receive monotherapy than patients in the contributory regimen (OR 2.33; 95% CI 1.41-3.86)., Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of overall clinical inertia was higher in the subsidized regime than in the contributory regime (100% vs 87%). Great efforts have been made to equalize the coverage between the two systems, but this finding is worrisome with respect to the difference in quality of the health care provided to these two populations. This information may help payers and clinicians to streamline strategies for reducing clinical inertia and improve patient outcomes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Health systems need to optimize the use of resources, especially in high-cost diseases as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We aimed to evaluate the efficiency of using centers of excellence (CoE) as a strategy for improving RA treatment in Colombia., Methods: A cost description analysis was carried out using the standard costing technique. We estimated the costs of medical consultations, laboratories, images, and medications for RA. Categories of care standards stratified by severity were defined using the disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS28). We evaluated the impact, in terms of costs (US dollars), for providing RA clinical care for a previously described cohort using the CoE approach. Statistical analyses were performed in Microsoft Excel ® , and R., Results: Expenditure on therapeutic drugs increases as the severity of RA increases. Drugs represent 53.6% of the total cost for the low disease activity (LDA) stage, 75.2% for moderate disease activity (MDA), 88.5% for severe disease activity (SDA) and 97% for SDA with biologic treatment (SDA+Biologic). Treating 968 patients would cost US$612,639 (US$487,978-1,220,160) at baseline, per year. After a year of follow-up at the CoE, treating the same patients would cost US$388,765 (US$321,710-708,476), which implies potential cost-savings of up to US$223,874 per year., Conclusion: The strategy of providing clinical care for RA through CoE can save US$231.3 per patient-per year. The results of our study show that CoE could greatly impact the public policies dealing with treatment of RA in Colombia. Applying the CoE model in our country would both improve health outcomes, as well as being more efficient in terms of costs., Competing Interests: Pedro Santos-Moreno reports previous grants from AbbVie, personal fees and non-financial support from Biopas-UCB, Janssen, Pfizer, Bristol, Roche, and personal fees from Lilly. The other authors reported no potential conflicts of interest for this work., (© 2021 Santos-Moreno et al.)

Management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in many Latin-American countries is impaired by fragmentation and scarce healthcare provision, resulting in obstacles to access, diagnosis, and treatment, and consequently in poor health outcomes. The aim of this study is to propose a comprehensive care program as a model to provide healthcare to RA patients receiving synthetic DMARDs in a Colombian setting by describing the model and its results. Health outcomes were prospectively collected in all patients entering the program. By protocol, patients are followed up during 24 months using a treat-to-target strategy with a patient-centered care (PCC) model, meaning that a patient should be seen by rheumatologist, physical and occupational therapist, physiatrist, nutritionist and psychologist, at least three times a year according to disease activity by DAS28. Otherwise, patients receive standard therapy. The incidence of remission and low disease activity (LDA) was calculated by periods of follow-up. A total of 968 patients entered the program from January 2015 to December 2016; 80.2% were women. At baseline, 41% of patients were in remission, 17% in LDA and 42% in MDS/SDA. At 24 months of follow-up, 66% were in remission, 18% in LDA and only 16% in MDS/SDA. Regarding DAS28, the mean at the beginning of the time analysis was 3.1 (SD 1.0) and after 24 months it was 2.4 (SD 0.7), showing a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.001). In all patients, the reduction of disease activity was 65% (95% CI, 58-71). Patients entering the PCC program benefited from a global improvement in disease activity in terms of DAS28.