Diabetes Self-Management

At Henry Ford, our team of experts provide care that goes beyond standard medical treatments. Through our Diabetes Care Centers, we guide you in healthy living with diabetes day-to-day. Our services include instruction on:

 

• Healthy eating: Learn how to make the right choices in the foods you eat
• Activity: Understand how to integrate exercise that’s appropriate for your overall health into your routine
• Monitoring: Keeping track of the glucose levels in your blood will help you gauge how you’re doing with diet, exercise and medication
• Reacting: When monitoring your glucose levels, we will teach you what to do for abnormally high or low blood sugar levels.

Diabetes educational programs

To help you live a healthy life and prevent serious complications, we offer a variety of programs that educate you about diabetes and how to successfully manage it.

Our educational programs include:

• Diabetes Self-Management Education Program (DSME): Our Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs), registered nurses and registered dietitians lead this 10-hour program with one-on-one sessions and group classes focused on steps for the daily self-management of diabetes.
• Diabetes in Active Control Program (DIAC): We partner you with a CDE or nurse practitioner to coach you through this 6-month personalized, one-on-one diabetes management program. We offer additional help for managing medications and monitoring blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Medical Nutrition Therapy Program (MNT): Our registered dietitians offer one-on-one sessions to develop personal meal plans based on each patient's lifestyle and follow-up visits to help you meet your food plan goals.
• Gestational Diabetes Program: In this individual or small group program for women who have developed diabetes during pregnancy, a registered dietitian works with you to take steps toward healthy nutrition for you and your baby.
• Let’s Eat Healthy: We designed this program to help your child learn skills for a healthier life. A registered dietitian meets with children ages 10 through 18 who weigh more than the recommended healthy weight and may be at high risk for developing diabetes.

To register for one of these programs, ask your physician for a referral. We accept most insurance plans, so check with your provider for coverage information. When speaking to your provider, refer to the following diabetes billing codes:

• Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME): G0108 (assessment visit); G0109 (group classes)
• Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT): 97802 (individual visit)
• Diabetes in Active Control (DIAC): 99211 (CPT) 80006100 (service code)
• Gestational Diabetes: Use MNT codes: 97802 (individual visit) or 97803 (group session)
• Let’s Eat Healthy: Use code for MNT, individual visit-97802. Ask specifically if the code covers pediatric or childhood weight management.

Support groups for diabetes

Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or had diabetes for years, our support groups are a powerful outlet for you to share your personal experience with others and gain important information. You can forge a strong network in this educational and emotional setting with others who are living with diabetes.

Our support groups are free of charge and often feature health professionals as guest speakers.

Diabetes care at home

Through our Diabetes at Home program, we provide tools to monitor your condition and manage diabetes from your own home.

You’ll receive a nurse visit within 48 hours of your physician’s referral. After that, nurses or therapists make 3 to 4 visits per week for the first 2 weeks. The frequency of those visits then gradually decrease as you prepare for discharge from Home Health Care.

Your nurse works with you and your physician on your treatment plan. The nurse monitors your vital signs, level of physical activity and risk factors.

Prevention and wellness

Although it’s not possible to prevent type 1 diabetes, you can prevent or delay developing type 2 diabetes.

Risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes include:

• Age of 45 or older
• A parent, brother or sister with diabetes
• Obesity
• Lack of exercise
• In women, polycystic ovary disease
• High cholesterol

Regular exercise is important for managing and preventing diabetes. In fact, one of the best ways to prevent type 2 diabetes is to maintain an ideal body weight and an active lifestyle. Exercising daily for at least 30 minutes combined with proper nutrition and a low-calorie diet are great ways to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.