New Recommendations for Diabetes Screening

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Earlier in October, the United States Preventative Services Task Force amended its recommendations on screening for diabetes. Under the new recommendations, screening for diabetes and prediabetes would be performed on all adults over age 45. The recommendations also encouraged uniform insurance coverage for these screenings in order to help families have access to such life-changing services.

It's no secret that detecting diabetes early enough can help patients get the diet and lifestyle education they need, which could possibly reverse the course of the disease. Early detection and medical nutrition therapy from Certified Diabetes Educators has also been proven to save significant taxpayer dollars and cut health care spending.

This focus on preventative medicine is a trend that isn't going to go away anytime soon, and dietitians are fortunate to be on the forefront of providing such preventative care.

As future clinical nutrition managers and clinical dietitians, justifying our jobs is something we're constantly going to have to be able to do. In the coming years, I think we're going to see more and more research on the many ways that preventative care can save lives and money, and this research is only going to encourage hospital administrators, physicians and other healthcare professionals to value and utilize dietitian services in a multitude of ways.

- AP

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