Retention of patients with a diagnosis of diabetes in selected managed care plans.
This study was designed to determine the extent of retention of patients in staff-model HMOs. Study groups with Type II diabetes were compared with a control group without diabetes. Each study group (three groups of approximately 400 patients, drawn from three MCOs) was enrolled in a staff-model HMO in 1990. Patients were then followed for five consecutive years through 1995. The age- and gender-matched control groups (approximately 400 patients randomly selected from each of the three MCOs) were identified from managed care plan enrollees without a diagnosis of diabetes. It was found that the retention rates of patients with diabetes are higher than those without diabetes in two plans. For the third plan, the retention rates among patients with diabetes were the same as the control group's. The first year of enrollment was found to be the most important predictor of patient retention. The findings of this study strongly suggest plans seek methods to optimize treatments and delay the natural history, morbidity, and exacerbations associated with diabetes, since there is a higher probability that these patients will be members in the future.