Diabetes TeleCare will use special telemedicine links to connect family doctor’s offices in Bennettsville and Jefferson, S.C., with specialists at USC Columbia. About 200 clients will be enrolled in the study; half will be randomly assigned to the Diabetes TeleCare intervention and half to usual care. Without leaving their communities, those in the intervention group will be able to get retinal exams and participate in a comprehensive diabetes self-management education program delivered by a nurse/certified diabetes educator and a nutritionist in Columbia.

“The goal is to help people in underserved areas to better manage their type 2 diabetes and to maintain metabolic control, especially glucose levels, which often predict future complications,” said Richard Davis, chair of the School of Medicine’s Ophthalmology Department and principal investigator of the Diabetes TeleCare project.

The goal also is to reduce the number of emergency room visits by clients with diabetes and reduce health care costs associated with managing diabetes.

“It’s unlikely we’ll be able to show less physical deterioration in the short time frame of this study, but we do hope to change their metabolic outcomes [such as blood glucose levels],” Davis said.

If the program proves valid in improving diabetes control and is cost-effective, Davis envisions offering Diabetes TeleCare to other remote communities across the state.

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