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Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions among America’s seniors. Currently there are 35 million seniors in Medicare that are age 65 and older and as many as 20 million of them have undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes. Many of these seniors are not getting the treatment they need to prevent complications from diabetes such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputation and millions more may be missing a chance to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.
That’s why the Medicare Diabetes Screening Project (MDSP), a grassroots coalition co-chaired by the American Diabetes Association, Healthcare Leadership Council and Novo Nordisk, has joined forces with more than twenty professional, provider, government, and private sector organizations to spread the word about the free diabetes screening benefits available to seniors under Medicare.
Since the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, at-risk seniors in Medicare are eligible to receive a free diabetes screening test on an annual basis. The screening test does not require a co-pay or deductable and can be re-taken six months later if a senior is diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes. The MDSP mission is to motivate seniors who have undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes and encourage them to see their doctors or other health care providers to take advantage of the benefit.
In order to effectively promote the Medicare diabetes screening benefits on community level, the MDSP has developed educational tools and resources for providers and healthcare professions to use when talking to seniors about the importance of diabetes prevention and screening. The MDSP also annually offers awards of $2500 to community organizations that submit proposals to promote diabetes screening.
To view and order MDSP materials for community outreach, click here.
To learn more about the MDSP Awards Program, click here.
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