The effect of diabetes case management and Diabetes Resource Nurse program on readmissions of patients with diabetes mellitus

Aims Patients with diabetes have higher readmission rates than those without diabetes, yet limited data on efforts to reduce their readmissions are available. We describe a novel model of inpatient diabetes care, expanding the role of diabetes educators to include case management, and establishment of a Diabetes Resource Nurse program, aimed at increasing the knowledge of staff nurses, and evaluate the impact of this program on readmission rates. Methods We performed retrospective analysis of 30-day readmission rates of patients with diabetes before (July 2010–December 2011), and after (January 2012–June 2013) starting the implementation of this tiered inpatient diabetes care delivery model. Results We analyzed 34,472 discharged patient records from the 18-month pre-intervention period, and 32,046 records from the 18-month post-intervention period. The overall 30-day readmission rate for patients with diabetes decreased significantly from 20.1% (pre) to 17.6% (post) intervention (p < 0.0001). Patients seen by diabetes educators had the lowest 30-day readmission rates (∼15% during the whole study), a rate approaching the overall hospital readmission rates in those without diabetes in our institution. Conclusion The Diabetes Resource Nurse program is effective in decreasing readmission rates. Patients seen by the diabetes educators have the lowest rates of readmission.