Clinical Pharmacy Specialists Help Achieve an LDL-Cholesterol Performance Goal in Veterans With Diabetes

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), an estimated 25.8 million Americans have type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), which accounts for 8.3% of the U.S. population.(1) The prevalence of type 2 DM in the VA population is substantially higher than in the general population. Five million veterans (20%) have type 2 DM. In 2006, the Veterans Integrated System Network 23 (VISN 23), which consists of VA medical centers in the upper Midwest, initiated a chronic disease management program that focused on improving the care of veterans in a registry of patients with type 2 DM, including guidelines for management of their cholesterol.