Gregory Liptak

The American Diabetes Association, the advocacy organization for the country’s 29.1 million diabetics, has acquired Media, Pennsylvania-based quality improvement organization Intelligent Medical Decisions (iMD). The not-for-profit ADA, which is based in Alexandria, Virginia, has worked with iMD for five years to develop Diabetes INSIDE, a quality improvement initiative that works with healthcare systems, educators and patients to improve health outcomes for diabetics.

It’s the second time in weeks the ADA has made major business moves. Earlier in June, the ADA announced a collaboration with CVS Pharmacy. The two are partnering on a website and diabetes information, awareness and education efforts.

The ADA’s aggressive outreach moves come at a time when diabetes’ role in escalating healthcare costs is becoming better understood. According to the ADA’s last five-year survey, the total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. was $245 billion in direct medical costs and reduced productivity. The ADA’s mission is to prevent and cure diabetes.

ADA CEO Kevin Hagen said with the acquisition, the association hopes “to provide greater support to a myriad of partners—including large-scale health systems, community-based physician practices and diabetes educators—seeking new ways to improve population health outcomes and reduce the costs of care.”

Gregory Liptak, former president of iMD, will become vice president of quality improvement services at the ADA, a new position. The purchase agreement requires the ADA to hire all three iMD personnel and acquire all its assets.

“There has never been better alignment with national healthcare priorities, the association’s mission and the need to redesign systems of care to better manage chronic diseases like diabetes,” Liptak said in a statement. “Combining our quality improvement services with the association’s resources, vision and voice will affect sustainable changes that improve the lives of millions of patients affected by diabetes while advancing the National Quality Strategy.”

Reached at his office, Liptak said he is not authorized to comment on details of the deal. The ADA said interventions from the program Diabetes INSIDE are already in use nationally and have shown success. Those interventions are based on the ADA’s Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, which provides best practices and evidence-based treatment guidance to clinicians, patients, researchers and insurers.

Peter Banfield, ADA senior vice president of business operations and integration, said the deal takes effect 30 days from June 10, when the signing took place. Banfield said the iMD team is joining the association to bolster its clinical quality improvement initiatives, with a focus on building the national scale of the Diabetes INSIDE program.

“This function will live with our mission programs focused on driving improvement in health outcomes for people living with diabetes,” he said.

Photo: Flickr user s_falkow