Policy Wise

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…in the battle against diabetes. A wonderful example of how combining incentives with information dissemination and counseling can lead to an effective public health policy.

For the past 10 years, the city of Asheville has given free diabetes medicines and supplies to municipal workers who have the disease if they agree to monthly counseling from specially trained pharmacists. The results, city officials say, have been dramatic: Within months of enrolling in the program, almost twice as many have their blood sugar levels under control. In addition, the city’s health plan has saved more than $2,000 in medical costs per patient each year.

…..Asheville’s public health experiment is something of a ray of hope, an example, however modest, of the kind of house-to-house, block-to-block battle that can win results and save lives in the face of a disease that has resisted quick-fix solutions.

Do read the whole thing.

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