Long-term health care outcomes in diabetes. Economic and political implications.

With building pressure for cost-containment of medical expenditures, the medical community is finding it increasingly necessary to justify its procedures and systems of care. The analysis of health care outcomes has been extensively applied to diabetes care as a means of determining the process by which optimal outcomes may be achieved. This article reviews basic concepts of outcomes analysis, with differentiation between process measures and outcome measures. A review of the available outcome literature as it pertains to diabetes also is provided.