Letter from the Editor, Sept. 5, 2010: Avoiding Errors When Switching Statins

As we move out of the dog days of summer more of our patients move into the donut hole of part D coverage and they come to us looking for less costly alternatives for their medications. Two of the biggest requests are for cholesterol-lowering and hypertension medications and with the plethora of choices we can sometimes make changes for our patients. When it comes to hypertension medications we have an easy way to gauge the effectiveness of the switch by having our patients check their blood pressure readings. However the hypercholesteremia choices take much longer to analyze. If you check out this week's Item #5, Switching Statins Often Leads to Wrong Doses - Not All Statins Are the Same, you will find out that many of our patients are not getting the full dose needed and it can take three to six months to find out.

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Diabetes Disasters Avoided! In the next few weeks, we will begin a new feature focused on diabetes disasters and how many of you have avoided them. Share your story or something that happened at your facility about a diabetes care disaster prevented or corrected, and help spread the word about "near-misses" that will help us all avoid needless tragedies! Click here to let us know the details. (You can use your name or remain anonymous if you prefer.) Each month, we'll send out a special prize of The Steps To Health Program that includes a Pedometer and a Special Manual (in use with over 500,000 patients) to the Diabetes Disaster Avoided Hero of the Month!

Announcements:

TCOYD Conference and Health Fair, Saturday, September 11, 2010, Providence, Rhode Island 
The TCOYD team will be at the Rhode Island Convention Center for a full day of panel discussions, health exhibits, workshops, physical acitivies and hands-on sessions. Special Guests include: Charlie Kimball (Indy Lights Race Car driver) and Kim Lyons (Fitness Expert, Professional Trainer and Certified Nutritionist). For more 2010 upcoming conference details, please go to TCOYD.org.

dLife.com: September 5, 7PM ET on CNBC
Topics: dLife’s Benno Schmidt reports on the controversial topic of medical alert tattoos, and gets inked himself. Plus, a look at how diabetes may impact memory, and how to keep yours sharp; and a low carb chocolate treat from the dLife kitchen. Special Guest: Darren Brass Sundays on CNBC at 7 PM ET, 6 PM CT, and 4 PM PT. Catch up on dLife.com.

Please answer this week's poll (in the right-hand column):  What percent of your Type 2 patients are on oral triple therapy and have an A1c below 6.4%?

Check out this week's "Test Your Diabetes Knowledge" question! And it's not too late to participate in our Nuval Quiz Challenge - just go to our August 22 "Test Your Knowledge" question and follow the links.

Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief