Group Medical Appointments in Diabetes Care: Is There a Future?

Abstract

In Brief New models are emerging for using patient groups in the medical care of diabetes. Most include a diabetes education component. Several of these models have demonstrated improved glycemic outcomes during randomized trials. However, determining which component of these care delivery systems is responsible for any realized clinical improvement is difficult. Thus, more well-designed, randomized, controlled studies and more details on applying group techniques to medical appointments are necessary to understand the health and cost-effectiveness outcomes of group medical appointments.