Assessing Diabetes Care Disparities with Ambulatory Care Quality Measures.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and describe racial/ethnic disparities in overall diabetes management. DATA SOURCE/STUDY SETTING: Electronic health record data from calendar year 2010 were obtained from all primary care clinics at one large health system in Minnesota (n = 22,633). STUDY DESIGN: We used multivariate logistic regression to estimate the odds of achieving the following diabetes management goals: A1C <8 percent, LDL cholesterol <100 mg/dl, blood pressure <140/90 mmHg, tobacco-free, and daily aspirin. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Blacks and American Indians have higher odds of not achieving all goals compared to whites. Disparities in specific goals were also found. CONCLUSIONS: Although this health system has above-average diabetes care quality, significant disparities by race/ethnicity were identified. This underscores the importance of stratifying quality measures to improve care and outcomes for all.