Power to the patient! A new diabetes care program being modeled by Floyd Medical Center’s Family Practice Residency program is showing promising results by seeking to have the patient become the captain of their own ship.

A hallmark of the program involves the development of a diabetes registry that tracks patients who are presented with a report card every time they come in for an office visit.

Detailed registry tracking is important, according to Dr. Saria Carter Saccocio because, “without documentation you don’t know how well you’re doing.” She said that use of the report card, which is printed out for the patient every time they visit the office, has saved five to seven minutes per office visit.

The efforts of the team led by Dr. Carter Saccocio were impressive enough to prompt Rome family physician Dr. Keith Parmer to remark, “We need a new way of doing things. The old way isn’t working.” Dr. Carter Saccocio said that use of the registry helps the physicians “manage patient needs on a continuous basis.”

The Family Practice Residency program is tracking more than 400 patients who have diabetes and in the last year, the average weight of a patient is down six pounds, the average Body Mass Index is down four points and the average blood pressure has improved from 144/80 to 135/78.

Long-term blood sugars, called A1C, were unchanged and total cholesterol levels were also unchanged.

Dr. Carter Saccocio said that diabetes was chosen as a model for reform because at least one in every 10 health care dollars are being spent of diabetes related problems.