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WNY Beacon Community
To view the 2012 WNY Beacon annual report and video, please click here!
In May 2010, the Western New York community with HEALTHeLINK as the lead grantee, received a $16.1 million award, one of the largest Beacon Community Awards in the country from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mission of the WNY Beacon Community is to improve clinical outcomes and patient safety through the use of health information technology and health information exchange, focusing on diabetes care management.
Western New York is home to an unusually high number of people with diabetes. According to the New York State Department of Health, diabetes affects one out of every 12 New York adults. Since 1994, the number of people in the state who have diabetes has more than doubled, and it is likely that number will double again by 2015. In addition, approximately 450,000 state residents may unknowingly have diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one out of every three children born after 2000 in the United States will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
Diabetes is not only becoming more common, it’s also becoming more expensive to treat. According to the American Diabetes Association, the annual cost of diabetes in medical expenses and lost productivity was $174 billion in 2007. One out of every five U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes.
Click
here to view the WNY Beacon Community video “Improving Health Through Health Technology”
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