The ediba® Diabetes Center of Excellence offers a network of hospitals dedicated to providing effective diabetes management tools and training. Our team works with healthcare professionals on current treatment options, clinical protocols and research data. We teach diabetes patients and family members to manage the disease to live longer, healthier lives. We also work with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and other healthcare organizations on improving the care for those with diabetes.

Our Mission

The ediba® Diabetes Center of Excellence provides effective diabetes leadership through innovation, building partnerships, and remaining adaptable to meet the needs of communities we serve.

What Make Us Unique?

• Effective - No need to wait on committees and task forces to develop and test strategies to impact diabetes care. We have an effective system that can be implemented quickly and have a proven track record for improving quality, reducing cost, and increasing revenue.
• Diabetes leadership - Going beyond a traditional emphasis on outpatient education, the ediba® Diabetes Center of Excellence assists hospitals in managing diabetes through the full continuum of care. We are committed to improving diabetes care throughout the entire healthcare system.
• Innovative - "Out of the box" thinking is vital in changing the way diabetes is managed in today's healthcare environment. We continually seek new ways to deliver care to meet the specific needs of each patient and each organization. View a video of Peter Engstrom, Chief Knowledge Officer of SAIC, Inc., discussing how organizations innovate and work together (see below).
• Building - As a "community of practice," we bring together experts in virtually every aspect of diabetes care to share knowledge, expertise, and a focus on improving diabetes outcome. This multi-disciplinary community of practice uses collaboration to achieve remarkable results. (Read the feature article about ediba® in Quality Resource).
• Adaptable - Improvement comes through listening and continual learning. We harness the power of collective knowledge to develop a program for your specific needs.

Our Vision

ediba's® vision is to change "the culture" in hospital settings of diabetes management. It is estimated that 40% of the patients in the hospital setting have diabetes, either identified or unidentified. Traditionally, these patients have been under served in the hospital setting because of current systems and "silo" management. By raising the awareness of the seriousness of diabetes and identifying those people with diabetes in the hospital setting - through healthcare professional staff training in Diabetes Today, clinical protocols and medical continuing education programs promoting the most current standards of diabetes care - the ediba® Diabetes Center of Excellence and identified branch diabetes educators strive to improve the quality of care for the patients, reduce the length of stay, and generate revenue for the hospital because of improved diabetes management.

Diabetes Today will:

• set the groundwork to provide the most efficient means to ensure that hospital patients with diabetes receive the best clinical care.
• enable the floor nurses to be the "inpatient diabetes management hands" of the branch diabetes educators and facilitate "survival skill" diabetes education.
• empower the floor nurses to use their diabetes knowledge to identify the educational needs of the patient with diabetes and/or their family, and to refer for outpatient diabetes self-management education.

The branch diabetes educators' roles (RN and RD) are to:

• mentor/communicate with point of care nurses to follow up with patients identified with out-of-control blood glucose (<70 or >200 mg/dL).
• identify in-services needed by the hospital's staff to ensure quality diabetes management.
• be the contact for facilitating administrative changes regarding diabetes care.
• work with case managers, coders, lab, pharmacy, billing, and other departments as needed to participate in the "cultural change" and vision of ediba®.
• provide diabetes self-management training to people with diabetes and their family.
• spearhead the outpatient diabetes program to meet the diabetes self-management education program by the American Diabetes Association in accordance with the National Standards.

Changing Lives

Hospitals can change the lives of people with diabetes by better managing their care on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The three year ediba® program has been proven effective in helping hospitals:

• Improve Quality
• Reduce Costs
• Increase Revenue

By also helping patients learn to better manage their own diabetes, the quality of life can improve dramatically. Comments from patients on satisfaction surveys (which averaged 95% satisfaction) include:

"I did not know I could feel this good again."
"You have changed my life. The insulin pump allows me freedom and a whole new perspective on life."
"Now I can live longer and get to enjoy my grandchildren."