Diabetes population management by telephone visits.

Introduction: Little has been published on the impact of telephone visits on diabetes outcome performance.
Research Design and Methods: An attending and resident physician prioritized telephone visits based on glycemic, blood pressure, and lipid performance. The resident and attending panel was compared with all other diabetic patients at the clinic for baseline and end-intervention performance.
Results: The intervention patients had an absolute percentage of increase versus control patients of 14.9 (p<0.01), 13.9 (p<0.01), and 8.3 (p=0.01) for HbA1c <9%, low-density lipoprotein <100 mg/dL, and blood pressure <130/80 mm Hg, respectively.
Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that provider-driven telephone visits may be a means for healthcare systems to improve chronic disease outcomes as they transition to new paradigms of chronic care delivery.
Limitations: This study was neither randomized nor blinded, was susceptible to an interventionist effect, and did not analyze for differences in baseline medication use.