Assessing Adherence to Insulin Initiation Recommendations at a Suburban Family Medicine Clinic

The American Diabetes Association recommends insulin initiation when A1c 10%. The aim of this study was to determine adherence to insulin initiation in patients with an A1c 10% at an outpatient family medicine clinic. The secondary objectives were to determine whether initiation of insulin within 3 weeks of an A1c 10% increased the rate or decreased the time to achieve an A1c <7% and to determine whether pharmacist involvement increased the rate of reaching an A1c <7%. This institutional review board-approved, retrospective, observational, cohort study identified 120 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and an A1c 10% in 2014. Patients already receiving insulin or those without a follow-up A1c were excluded. Study outcomes included proportion of patients receiving insulin therapy within 3 weeks of A1c >/=10%, rate of meeting A1c <7%, time to reach A1c <7%, and proportion of patients meeting with a pharmacist. Fifty-five patients with a mean age of 55 years, a mean duration of diabetes of 6.4 years, and a mean baseline A1c of 11.7% met the inclusion criteria. Most patients were receiving no therapy (29%), monotherapy (27%), or dual therapy (29%) at baseline. Insulin was initiated in 5 patients (9.1%, P < 0.05) within 3 weeks of the qualifying A1c. Another 5 patients (P < 0.05) received insulin at some point during the study. An A1c <7% was achieved in 35.6% of patients not receiving insulin, 20% of patients receiving early insulin, and no patients who received insulin after 3 weeks. The mean time to A1c <7% was 6 months for patients not on insulin and 3 months for those receiving early insulin. Thirty-three percent of patients who met with a pharmacist reached an A1c <7% compared with 30% of patients who did not. Adherence to insulin initiation guidelines and rate of achieving A1c <7% in patients with A1c 10% is low. Increasing pharmacy involvement may increase the rate of reaching goal A1c.