Diabetes

Patients with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to require hospitalization than patients without diabetes. The mean length of stay and mortality for patients with high mean glucose on admission is significantly longer and the short-term morality is greater compared to those with normoglycemia. [1]

Center of Excellence in Diabetes Care

We are proud to say that UPMC Pinnacle was the first of only two hospitals in the state of Pennsylvania to get the Gold Seal of Approval® from The Joint Commission for improving care of diabetic patients in the hospital. We are among 20 hospitals across the country to get this recognition, demonstrating our commitment to excellence in providing disease-specific care. Diabetes causes your body to be unable to properly use food for energy. Individuals with diabetes experience high levels of sugar in the blood. Diabetes can result if your body has too little insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar), resistance to insulin or both.

For diabetics, keeping blood glucose as close to normal as possible is the best way to avoid or delay complications. For hospitalized patients, a high blood glucose level, or hyperglycemia, has been associated with higher rates of complications, including infection and longer length of stay.

To improve quality of patient care for individuals suffering from diabetes but hospitalized for another reason, UPMC Pinnacle established system-wide guidelines for administering insulin. While in the hospital, all diabetic patients must be on basal insulin or oral medication. Electronic insulin order sheets help physicians and nurses create a customized insulin administration plan for each patient.

Since implementing these guidelines, UPMC Pinnacle has demonstrated an improvement in care of patients with diabetes by:

• Reducing length of stay for both medical and surgical patients with diabetes
• Reducing blood sugar levels for both medical and surgical patients with diabetes
• Reducing the mean time it takes to reach target blood sugar
• Increasing the percentage of patients who achieve target blood sugar, in both intensive care and standard care units

Glycemic Control Benchmark Report

UPMC Pinnacle participated in the Glycemic Control Benchmark report, prepared by the Epsilon Group, a division of Medical Automation Systems (an Alere Company). The report analyzes point-of-care blood glucose data collected by the Roche ACCU-CHEK® Inform glucose monitors and the RALS®-Plus data management system.

The report is designed to provide health care providers and administrators with important information about glycemic control in their hospitals, as well as allow them to compare their results to other participating hospitals.

For overall glycemic control, PinnacleHealth ranked second out of 206 hospitals nationwide that participated in this study, which places us in the top 1 percent of participating hospitals.
PinnacleHealth ranked third for ICU control and sixth for non-ICU control.

Outpatient Diabetes Program

Since the program inception in 2015 the overall &ldquoA1c > &ldquo9&rdquo rate improved from 25 % to 20.9 % across all sites. After 3 years, that number was further reduced to 14 %. For non-Medicaid patients the data showed further decrease from 25 % to 12.5 %.

In 2017 the program was extended to 20 additional sites with 70 additional providers. Within a short duration of 1 year the data showed a steady reduction of A1c> 9 rates in all secondary sites (Region 1  39% -19.5% and Region 2 42-23% ).

Contact Us

If you have questions about UPMC Pinnacle's quality information or data, please contact our Performance Improvement Department at 717-231-8469.

Need more information?

Annville: 717-791-2540
Carlisle: 717-960-3927
Hanover: 717-316-3670
Union Deposit: 717-614-4420
West Shore: 717-791-2540
York: 717-849-5500