70% Of Adult California Medicaid Beneficiaries With Severe Mental Illness Have No Diabetes-Specific Screening

From 2009 through 2011, nearly 70% of California Medicaid beneficiaries with severe mental illness and taking antipsychotics received no diabetes-specific screening. About 31% received no glucose screening and about 39% underwent a non-specific diabetes screening, such as a glucose-specific nonfasting blood test. Only 31.1% received a glucose-specific fasting blood test or a glycated hemoglobin test.

These findings were reported in “Diabetes Screening Among Underserved Adults With Severe Mental Illness Who Take Antipsychotic Medications” by Christina Mangurian, M.D.; John W. Newcomer, M.D.; Eric Vittinghoff, Ph.D.; Jennifer M. Creasman, MSPH; Penelope Knapp, M.D . . .