One of the global emerging epidemics of non-communicable diseases is Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). The adverse consequences of T2DM are a lowered life expectancy of up to fifteen years and an increased risk of heart disease. T2DM is the leading cause of kidney failure, lower limb amputations, and adult-onset blindness. As of 2010, eight percent of the United States population, or 24 million Americans, have T2DM and an estimated 57 million people have ‘pre-diabetes’. In California, a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) study found that T2DM has increased nearly 26 percent between 2001 and 2007. Orange county, California has an increase in the number of persons with T2DM from five percent in 2001 to seven percent in 2003. A solution in addressing the increase in T2DM cases is through an evidence-based system change, implementing group visits led by a Certified Diabetic Educator (CDE) with a self-management tool for patients with pre-diabetes. The intended goal of such a program in a community clinic setting was a reduction or delay in conversion rates of pre-diabetics becoming T2DM.
